Ontario's Educational Loan (OSAP) is something I just do not get

Canada
August 5, 2010 11:36am CST
My parents taught me the value of saving money. Thus, I have grown up to be a wise spender. I tend to save a lot and spend only on important things I need. When I migrated to Canada, I worked at a coffee shop at minimum wage. Since I am still living with my parents, I do not have to spend for rent, electricity etc. I only had to spend for myself. I was able to save a lot of money.. enough money that I was able to go back to my home country and enjoy 2 months of summer there... This is why saving is so important to me... You can buy things you need and want, have emergency cash just in case something happens to me or any of my family members and pay loans.. Here is where OSAP Loan (topic) comes in. The eligibility of you getting enough money for your school needs depends if you are getting income or not. The lesser income the bigger the amount they lend you. I was eligible to loan money last school year. OSAP has this rule that if your income changes you have to report it. I had to report my income changes because I really needed money because I was also contributing some of the expenses at home like our food and internet. Plus unforeseen events made me contribute more to my parents.(2008-2009 recession) Plus I had no idea books were soooooo expensive (back in my country it was my parents who paid for my books).. The OSAP money was not enough. If I relied on how much they gave me I will not have any money left in my savings account. Because I increased my income and reported it to OSAP they will not provide money for me for the 2nd semester. I had no choice but to pay my 2nd semester from my savings.(and again this is why savings is important. you do not know what happens next). The thing is, why do they not allow us to save? How can I even pay my loan if I do not save? Even if I work after school it does not mean that salary will be enough for me to pay the loan because of the interest. No wonder why I here a lot of working people still paying off their student loans. Something must be done. Atleast a little leverage would be great. Someone explain to me why their educational loans work like this? Actually I also have a story about scholarships too. Very similar to how it works with loans here. It will be on my next blog as well.
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