Steve Said:

How can I pay for university?

We Answered:

Perhaps you should contact the admissions department of the University and ask them if you could delay entry for a year.

This should give you enough time to sort out scholarships and other sources of finance available.

If you think you will need a job while you are at college, it would be wise to choose a college in a location where you speak the language well enough to work. (So you may be better off chosing a different Uni.)

University is hard work. It may be appropriate for you to consider how you can control your ADHD to enable you to study.

The short answer is that you cannot pay for school without any money.

Lois Said:

Money for college tuition and living expenses?

We Answered:

I suggest that you research and apply for any and all scholarships you are eligible for. Start at www.scholarshipscanada.com. What difference does it make if the scholarship goes to the school? It will pay down your tuition and that will be 1 less bill for you to worry about. In most public community colleges and universities you are responsible for buying your own books. Do NOT buy any until after your first class. You may discover that your instructor does not plan to use the text. Buy used texts, not new if possible.

OSAP is easy to get but it is NOT designed to pay for your education - it is designed to ASSIST. There is also the expectation that your parents will be helping you to pay for school. You are considered to be your parents' responsibility until you have been out of high school at least 4 years -- or you have been out of school for 12 months on 2 or more occasions (so for instance you finished high school, hung around for 1 year, went to college, dropped out and its been at least 1 year since then). So even if you are not living at home, the responibility is still there. OSAP will look at your parents' combined incomes and the number of people in the family and then, using tables from Stats Canada, will decide how much 'disposable' income your parents have that could be spent on your education. Also, they expect that you will have a part time job while in school. You can make $103 gross per week without impacting your OSAP funding. You do not have to have a part time job but most students find that they need something to get a little more money. They also assume that you had a job in the summer right before school started and they expect that you saved money from the job which is factored into your funding calculatins. Even if you did not work, they still factor that into your funding. If you have savings, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, GICs, term deposits, expensive car, RRSPs, etc they may be factored into the calculations. Any scholarships you receive will be deducted from your OSAP. You do need to apply every year but unless you do something stupid - like lie about your income, you won't have a problem reapplying.

There are weekly maximums for OSAP -- as a single person, your max is 360/week for every week you are in school (so not for the Decewmber break or summer) . So for a 2 semester, 34 week year, that's 12,240. But that is loaned to you for everything - rent, food, transportation, tuiiton, books, etc.

You can apply for a student line of credit. You must have a co-signor. While you are in school you must pay the interest on any money you use from your line of credit. Most banks will do $10,000/year -- but remember your academic year is only 8 months, not 12, so you are looking at 1250/month. You are going to have to practice some economies -- you can't rent an expensive apartment, you can't be eating fast food all the time, you probably can't afford a car. You can apply for OSAP and also a line of credit.

For OSAP you don't 'claim' a room-mate unless you have been co-habiting for 3 years or have a child together. OSAP expects that most students will be in shared accommodation.

Ralph Said:

Can I still register at a public high school at the age of 19?

We Answered:

I also live in Ontario and the high school that I went to accept students back unless they are over the age of 21.

Larry Said:

Moms can you help me? The finacial aide section is dead right now?

We Answered:

Contact the financial aid office at Sir Sanford (or where ever you're planning on applying). They'd have info about specific scholarships and bursaries that they offer. This might be available on their website as well.

Also, talk to your high school guidance counselor - they have a TON of information about all of this stuff. They'd be the first one to talk to about getting help with application money.

When you apply for OSAP, I can pretty much guarantee you'll get enough. I know someone in Peterborough who is a single mom with 2 kids. She took a few years off after high school and got married and had her kids. Anyway, she moved back to Ptbo and is going to school now, and her OSAP is amazing!! You get more when you have dependent(s), and if you're a single parent, and a bunch of other things. She's gone on numerous vacations by herself in the last couple of years, because she had extra OSAP! There are also great government grants that help with repaying it all - so you won't have to pay back ALL of the money you've been loaned.

Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions about it!

Amanda Said:

Questions about McGill University in Montreal, Canada? PLEASE HELPPPP!!!!?

We Answered:

Lafango is currently hosting two international scholarship contests

http://lafango.com/gogreen-essay-contest
http://lafango.com/school-photo-contest

Hope this helps!