I have a question about working part time after having applied for OSAP.

How much can working part time affect the amount of money OSAP is providing? Will it be a significant amount?

i think it will depend on how much your making wont it? but i dont know much about osap...

The best people to answer this question would be the Student Financial Aid and Scholarships Office whom you can reach at 905 525 9140, ext. 24319.
They take a long time to respond to emails, so I'd advise against it.
You could start trying now though the phone lines will likely be occupied for some time
Tomorrow morning at 9 AM would be your best shot

http://sfas.mcmaster.ca/office.html

I was also wondering about this. I mean, you'd figure that OSAP wouldn't lower your amount since working is meant to supplement that amount in most cases.

For anyone with experience with that, is it worth it to work, other than for experience? 'Cause in the end, it may be that the income you get from your job is what will be taken off your OSAP making it pointless.

Originally Posted by feonateresa

'Cause in the end, it may be that the income you get from your job is what will be taken off your OSAP making it pointless.

I'm not sure how it works, but in this case, you would have less debt to pay back upon graduation since you made some money yourself through working.

Good point, but then you could always work in the summer for that reason. I want to work because well, a girls gotta pay bills haha, but I don't like having to spend extra time working when I could be studying.

It does depend on how much you make working Part-Time.

I applied for OSAP last year, was working Part-Time and I received it but this year I applied again but by accident, I put in the wrong numbers (they were way too high) for my Part-Time job pay and I got 0 from OSAP. (I'm already in the process of clearing that up lol) Anyway my point is, there is a siginificant impact on your OSAP amount by your PT job.

Also, working sucks while you're in school so if you can get away with not having a job during the school year, I recommend that. You can get work experience later but your grades are important now.

However, I got bills to pay. lol

Working can have a significant effect on your OSAP loan amount. I've been working every summer since before coming to Mac, and every year, my OSAP amount has decreased by a significant amount.

There's nothing you can do about it, as far as I've been told; they (the Ministry) don't care at all that your income would be used primarily to pay rent/buy food/live, and that OSAP is required to pay tuition.

My first OSAP amount was almost $5000. Second year was around $1500, third year was around $1000, and now I've been given an estimate of $800 for this, my fourth year.

My first OSAP amount was almost $5000. Second year was around $1500, third year was around $1000, and now I've been given an estimate of $800 for this, my fourth year

Oh wow. First year I only got $2000, by my fourth year I'm only going to get like 100 bucks.

Originally Posted by tauntobr

Working can have a significant effect on your OSAP loan amount. I've been working every summer since before coming to Mac, and every year, my OSAP amount has decreased by a significant amount.

There's nothing you can do about it, as far as I've been told; they (the Ministry) don't care at all that your income would be used primarily to pay rent/buy food/live, and that OSAP is required to pay tuition.

My first OSAP amount was almost $5000. Second year was around $1500, third year was around $1000, and now I've been given an estimate of $800 for this, my fourth year.

.. That's seriously scary. >.>

So it decreases with each year.

Originally Posted by Bobby66

So it decreases with each year.

Seems like it. I don't work but instead of giving back the 40% of OSAP to my parents, they told me to keep it to pay for next year. Probably not the best idea. Nothing changed in terms of tuition, maybe a slight decrease in "residence" since I am renting off campus (I put the correct amount in the application). But my OSAP this year decreased 2000$ to 1800$. That's a pretty big drop. I really don't know why other than having more money in the bank.

So, yeah. If it's not your money give it back to your parents as they take into account the money in your bank. That way you can get the most out of OSAP, without technically lying.

I'm not sure how much effect the amount of money you have in your bank account has. Cause when i was in first year I had about 6000$ saved up and I was working during the summer and I got 7000$ from OSAP and then in second year I had 0$ saved up in my bank account, made the same amount during the summer and only got 4500$ from OSAP and then this year I owe money to my bank, am making the same amount this summer and I am only getting 1300$ from OSAP. It's really starting to piss me off. So I am now going to be working as a TA during this school year so that I can have some money.

Originally Posted by alyssabriere

I'm not sure how much effect the amount of money you have in your bank account has. Cause when i was in first year I had about 6000$ saved up and I was working during the summer and I got 7000$ from OSAP and then in second year I had 0$ saved up in my bank account, made the same amount during the summer and only got 4500$ from OSAP

Saved money has a large effect on your OSAP loan amount. I have consistently maintained a savings account of approximately $6000 (by the time I fill out the OSAP application).

See my last post to see how much my OSAP loan amounts have dropped every year.

Originally Posted by tauntobr

Saved money has a large effect on your OSAP loan amount. I have consistently maintained a savings account of approximately $6000 (by the time I fill out the OSAP application).

See my last post to see how much my OSAP loan amounts have dropped every year.

Why does it drop every year? That is really horrible.