200th Post: The Poverty Special

This is what I could look like in little or no time.

That's right, I could become a shaggy, alcoholic, heroin-addicted street person any day now. Why? Because the governments of Canada and Ontario think that because I am a student I should live in poverty regardless of what I might try to do to improve my life.

OSAP, or the Ontario Student Assistance Program (I'd personally argue that it should be called OECWCASP, Ontario Excuse to Claim We Care About Students Program) exists primarily to secure loans for lower and middle income students. The province doesn't actually lend any money, banks do through the NSLSC (National Student Loans Service Centre), Ontario acts as a guarantor and pays the interest on the loans until six months after loan recipients leave full-time post secondary education.

What's my beef?

The system is rigged against trying to improve ones situation. I hardly made any money this summer. Admittedly it was my fault, but I started the summer depressed and very unmotivated. Searching for a job was heart-wrenchingly difficult. According to OSAP, students are allowed to make more money per week in the summer than during the rest of the year, and I wasn't able to take advantage of that fact.

When school began this year I was full of passion to get started and to sort out my financial mess. I got right to finding a job after moving and I had one within two weeks. Since then I've worked far too much for a student, sacrificing valuable study time, struggling to make enough money to pay my bills in a timely fashion. Between my first installment of OSAP, the money I made this summer and my hard work this semester I've been able to pay for my tuition, the fancy new lappy I'm typing this with, the $700 meal plan I had to get and more than half of a $3000 credit card bill I managed to create mostly on school books and items for my room here from April to September. All I have left is around $5000 still owing to the university for this lovely (cinder block) room (box) I'm in and about $1300 on the credit card.

I thought all was well. I've netted about $700 a month so far at the job. Not much, but enough to feed myself and make substantial regular payments on my debts. After all, I ride my bike or take the bus to work, and the school can wait for me to pay for the room I'm living in, so my expenses are quite low. I haven't been leading a luxurious lifestyle, I think I spent $30 in October on entertainment ($20 on drinks one night, and $10 on a movie on another). Living in a vibrant city full of cultural attractions and interesting places has been completely wasted on me, I haven't had the time or money to get off campus more than a handful of times since school started.

OSAP requires that I report all changes to my income. When I originally filled out my OSAP application in the spring I guessed that I would make about $200 a month during school. Last week, I remembered this so I went to the Financial Aid office to submit the changes. I was nervous that I would lose some loan entitlement. A week later I found I was justified. I lost my entire second installment, and I am also now in an "overaward" status. Not only am I not going to receive the $3500 I had been counting on, I also have to return $150.

Apparently the Fifth Avenue life I lead is too rich for the decision makers at Queen's Park. Maybe $40 a week is too much to spend on food. Who says I can't survive on white bread and bananas from the "reduced" rack. My current OSAP entitlement and $700 a month of net earnings from Sept to April provides me $10941 for the 8 months of school. With my total bill from the university of $10102.20 plus books, mandatory class fees, groceries, transportation, basic clothing needs, dentist visits and whatever else might pop up down the road, I don't see how I can possibly finish paying the university before final exams based on OSAP's math.

Luckily I have parents willing to help out their 22 year old child despite their own financial situation, and I did well in school last year. The 'rents haven't decided how they are going to help, but they seem genuinely impressed with me lately and I'm sure they'll be as generous as they can be. Also I somehow managed to score a bursary. While on the phone with my parents, describing my current situation, I stumbled upon a strange entry on my student account. Apparently I managed to beat out every other English student at York with decent grades and financial need to get the Charles Lithgow Award which amounted to a $1411 (unannounced) deposit to my student account. I owe a big thanks to Ian Lithgow for his generosity. I think he'd probably take back the money if he knew how bad an English student I am. I'm sure there are countless errors in this post to prove it. Also, I haven't done any of the many mandatory readings in my Lit class.

I'm still in the process of figuring out what to do next. I think I'll probably cut my hours at work down to the bare minimum they will accept. The lost earnings will be matched by returned loan money, and I'll be able to focus better on school. Sure I have to pay the money back, but I'll have better chances of getting a job that pays well when I'm done if I have good marks. As for next summer, if I haven't died of starvation yet, I don't know what I'll do. I'd like to go to Quebec to study French this summer if I can win an Explore bursary. Though I now know the importance of earning as much as possible in the summer, so hopefully I can do that and still manage to make some money.

Keep on Tranglin,
Anthony