Originally Posted by Vessi

Does OSAP cover Teacher's College as well?
And if it does, if I were to take a year off after getting my degree to work and then go to Teacher's College, am I required to make my OSAP payments throughout Teacher's College?

6 months after your schoooling with mac being done is when the payments would be required to be paid. There are exceptions to be made, mostly related to bankrupsy, and you could talk to the OSAP people to see about extending the payment deadlines.

I just asked my question to make you think about your reasons for going here... tell your mom all that; if you're passionate about this place and think you could get a lot more out of your education by moving out of your 'home bubble', demonstrate to your mum how important this is to you.

^^^ isnt it as long as ur in school the osap doesnt collect interest?. so if you apply for grad immediately after and regardless of which school you go to osap wont start collecting interest until you are completely done your schooling?

of course if you take that year off then it will start to collect interest after that 6 months

Originally Posted by Chevalier

^^^ isnt it as long as ur in school the osap doesnt collect interest?. so if you apply for grad immediately after and regardless of which school you go to osap wont start collecting interest until you are completely done your schooling?

of course if you take that year off then it will start to collect interest after that 6 months

that's correct. if you graduated after 4 years and went to grad school right after WITH osap then you wouldn't have to start paying until the end of your grad schooling. BUT if you decided to go to grad school without continuing osap or take a year off and then go it would start accumulating interest after 6 months.

proof: my sister

try looking into a student line of credit with your local bank. Rates are fairly reasonable and it would make an excellent buffer if you do run super low on money.

Also consider that for me at least OSAP has gone down every year while my tuition seems to be going up (and parents income has stayed constant)

Thanks for the suggestions
Just to reiterate:

- OSAP! (apply for after acceptance)
- Entrance scholarship (deducted from account)
- Other scholarships
- Job (apply during the year) http://sfas.mcmaster.ca/work_study/jobs.html
- Bursaries (apply after acceptance) http://sfas.mcmaster.ca/bursary/macbur.html
- Grants (through OSAP)
- Student lines of credit
- Textbooks are dumb, also buy them used (obviously )

Originally Posted by Vessi

Thanks for the suggestions
Just to reiterate:

- OSAP! (apply for after acceptance)
- Entrance scholarship (deducted from account)
- Other scholarships
- Job (apply during the year) http://sfas.mcmaster.ca/work_study/jobs.html
- Bursaries (apply after acceptance) http://sfas.mcmaster.ca/bursary/macbur.html
- Grants (through OSAP)
- Student lines of credit
- Textbooks are dumb, also buy them used (obviously )

yup that's pretty much it...

Woo okay, time to do some research... I'm pretty much stupid when it comes to real-world stuff. :X
Hopefully I can convince my mom and she'll listen rationally instead of emotionally. :|

Also don't forget for later years you can do co-op (or experiential learning as social sciences calls it):

http://experiential-ed.mcmaster.ca/students

Oh right! I was planning to do that hahaha. I'm a bit confused about how it works though. :/ Do you know or do you know somewhere where I can ask and get some clarification about the program?

to get a bursary from mac you all are forgeting you have to be getting osap....

Don't worry, I'm applying for OSAP.

AS everyone has suggested before You should may be consider living off campus and along with that try buying used books that will save you bunch of money and honestly usually osap does cover all your expenses so you should be fine.

Originally Posted by eccentrikkk

to get a bursary from mac you all are forgeting you have to be getting osap....

The fact that you can apply for the bursary without having applied to OSAP means that you can still get a bursary without getting OSAP. Chances of actually getting the bursary is slim but it's still possible.

Originally Posted by Malka

AS everyone has suggested before You should may be consider living off campus and along with that try buying used books that will save you bunch of money and honestly usually osap does cover all your expenses so you should be fine.

I don't want to live off campus haha but definitely buying used books. And I hope so, she's worried about paying it back after graduation too.

Originally Posted by jhan523

The fact that you can apply for the bursary without having applied to OSAP means that you can still get a bursary without getting OSAP. Chances of actually getting the bursary is slim but it's still possible.

I thought we have to have applied for osap to get a bursary?

The site says this:

• "The Office of Student Financial Aid & Scholarships (SFAS) will provide bursary assistance related to tuition, books, compulsory fees, equipment and supplies after a student’s own contribution has been assessed and after OSAP (or out-of-province loan) has been assessed."

• "Bursary applicants must first access the OSAP program (or government funding from their home province, if not residents of Ontario) in order to be considered for a McMaster bursary."

Never let your parents stop you from your dreams, even if you have to do everything yourself. With good marks, determination and bit of luck, everything will work out. Every year, I'm always surprised by the amount of money osap gives me. They give give give and I shall take take take.