http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toront...n-rebates.html

do ppl who pay in full get rebates?

yea babay! My parents were bitchin at me for spending so much on my tuitions just today!

how exactly do we get the money back? through mugsi?

if you read the article it says it comes automatically for osap ppl, other ppl have to apply to a website in the new year.

A link on that article was also intersting. Still think it should be 30% of your tutition and not a flat 30% of the average.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/stor...itionfees.html

I hope this is every year from the new year?! please ?

so im guessing this credit for OSAP students will only reduce their loan portion? If anyone knows any details it would be great help...thanks

Originally Posted by aw07

so im guessing this credit for OSAP students will only reduce their loan portion? If anyone knows any details it would be great help...thanks

true. Their website doesnt say much as I was looking before. this article has the most info Ive seen in awhile

great, but the income cut off is still quite high IMO... I just wish they'd be more straightforward with the details of when and how students will be receiving this "rebate"

Here's how the government SHOULD have done it:

Grade cut-off. Must be achieving certain grade average to qualify, in addition to a family annual income qualification. Then you're gonna get people complaining "But I was distracted this year! My {insert relative} {insert something that would happen to a relative to distract you}. This isn't fair! I can do better!". Okay, then make it a 2 year window for application. If you don't get it the first year, you have the following year to make up for it.

The above suggestion cuts out all the whiny people who want $1600 back because they plan on dropping out next year, or the people who want to scrape by in university with a 3 or 4 GPA and party all week long.

The benefits of doing it this way over their current method:

1) Less spending on the government's behalf.

2) Fairly appropriating tax money to those who deserve it.

And what are the disadvantages? I think I covered them with the 2-year window for application.

The problem with that Mike is that a certain GPA in one program isnt as meaningful as the same GPA in another. I'm not trying to be an ******* but a 6 GPA in Eng means a bit more than a 6 in Humanities. And those people with high averages already get money from scholarships, I think it's a good idea to give everyone the money. It should however be 30% of the persons tuition, I pay 9k and something while other programs pay 5-6k I feel I deserve more of a rebate then they do just based purely on precent.

Originally Posted by yaroslav64

I'm not trying to be an ******* but a 6 GPA in Eng means a bit more than a 6 in Humanities.

Not really, you'd have to be a pretty big tool to try hard and still end up with those averages in either case.

Originally Posted by mike_302

Here's how the government SHOULD have done it:

Grade cut-off. Must be achieving certain grade average to qualify, in addition to a family annual income qualification. Then you're gonna get people complaining "But I was distracted this year! My {insert relative} {insert something that would happen to a relative to distract you}. This isn't fair! I can do better!". Okay, then make it a 2 year window for application. If you don't get it the first year, you have the following year to make up for it.

The above suggestion cuts out all the whiny people who want $1600 back because they plan on dropping out next year, or the people who want to scrape by in university with a 3 or 4 GPA and party all week long.

The benefits of doing it this way over their current method:

1) Less spending on the government's behalf.

2) Fairly appropriating tax money to those who deserve it.

And what are the disadvantages? I think I covered them with the 2-year window for application.

How about those students who have to work in order to fund their education?

Originally Posted by yaroslav64

The problem with that Mike is that a certain GPA in one program isnt as meaningful as the same GPA in another. I'm not trying to be an ******* but a 6 GPA in Eng means a bit more than a 6 in Humanities.

Agreed. The GPA system is flawed. Comparing 2 students from different universities, different programs, or even the same program but in different years is meaningless. There needs to be a new system that measures the student's performance against the class average. (I believe some universities give percentiles, but McMaster does not).

If we were to give rebates based on percentages, some people could get more off than others and that is still an issue of inequality. To reiterate, if a grade cutoff could be considered unfair due to an inequality in an engineer's curriculum vs that of somebody in a different program, then giving rebates based on the amount of tuition paid is still unfair.

A one child family with a combined income of $100000 per year and savings could still qualify for a $3000 rebate this way depending on their child's program, even though a humanities student might need that money more (larger family, lower income, etc (maybe $60000 per year)) but they would only get $1500 by percentage.

I agree with Michael. I think a grade cut off would have been excellent. Not as competitive as the QEII but still competitive enough. Don't get me wrong - the idea is great, but a family with a combined income of $160000 or below and one child might not need the extra money which could go elsewhere. If the plan wishes to truly equalize tuition, tuition should be capped, and the money should be given directly to the universities to help them pay off their own debt and provide students more services. Or the loan percentage could be significantly lowered based on income, disability status and family members (thereby increasing the grant percentage for this population).

However, I think that all these measures might have come under fire as "unequal", given that OSAP is already criticized by individuals who require the money but have RESP's or high parental incomes in effect (even if their parents may not support them).