exhausted all options..

[Countrynurse17]

Hi there,

Im new to the site, looking for some direction or guidance, or even some ideas of where to go from here.

so I guess ill tell you my background to better understand the situation:

I was a 3rd year BSCN student at York U in Toronto Ontario, a collaborative program with the first two years being at Georgian - not a problem while I was at Georgian - was able to obtain osap to cover my tuition and books, and worked as much as I could to cover my living expenses, it was hard, but it was do-able.

so now at York in 3rd year, about 2 weeks prior to final exams, I get a letter from OSAP stating ive been re-assessed and no longer eligible for funding - including the semester I was just about to complete - yes, the funding was actually withdrawn, and I was told my osap I was not eligible to apply nor receive any further funding until I re-payed a portion of what I owe. (there was no lapse in schooling here, my loan was never in repayment status)

so ofcourse at this point im devastated, I managed to finally speak to someone who takes care of loan decisions and what not at OSAP, this lady was extremely rude, didn't have a care in the world to speak to me, and had the nerve to call me a "princess" for wanting to save myself money and remain where I live now and just commute, rather than sell my car, move close to the school and pay extremely high rent for half the size place I live in now and have to struggle to find another job that was willing to work around my school hours and still provide me enough hours to keep the roof over my head. the school was ABSOLUTLY USELESS, and suggested I take an LOA for financial reasons and take the year off to work and try to save up some money.

so at this point I had no options, I was unable to pay the tuition being that I didn't have enough saved to pay the tution being two weeks to the end of semester, so I lost all my credits for the semester, and was put on LOA status to return this September.

In the mean time, I have worked full time for an agency with steady reliable hours. Unfourtunetly, it doesn't pay a fortune, but I am happy there. i managed to pay off what i owed to OSAP - i re-applied for this September to go back and guess what? IM NOT ELIGIBLE FOR FUNDING NOW BECAUSE I HAVE SUFFICIENT RESOURCES AFTER WORKING FULL TIME FOR HALF A YEAR. they didn't take into account that i wasn't able to save enough to get me through a whole year because i was busy trying to pay them back after being harassed every month i was off about my loan status and not being able to apply until it was paid and blablabla.

so long story short im not returning to school full time at this point as i have no other options. I am not eligible for OSAP, can't get a student loan ( believe me, ive tried everything, i have no co-signers, family is unable to help, and my credit rating is much less than perfect due to circumstances that happened in my first year of college very much out of my control ) ive applied for grants, bursaries, you name it, ive tried it - my marks are not competitive because i spend almost every waking hour outside of school working to pay my bills as when i did receive OSAP, it was very minimal.

I've dropped into the part time RPN course at Georgian where i did my first two years of the collab BSCN program. they were quite helpful in the transition, i get to work during the day and go to school 3 nights a week. ive paid the tuition out of pocket. but now im starting to panic - my consolidation starts in September, 44 hours a week for 10 weeks - how the heck am i going to pay my bills!?!?

OSAPS not an option, loans not an option, and i can't rely on possibly being selected for a bursary, i need some sort of steady income while i complete my consolidation but i am so exhausted of being shut down and told too bad your on your own, i don't know what else to do. I am so close to finishing and being in my dream career, i don't get why its so hard for osap just to help me out!! i gotta pay it back any how!

if anyone has any advise or ideas of what i can do to get through my consolidation id really appreciate it. please don't say save up..... i just had to save up all the money for my tuition out of pocket on an extremely tight budget as it is, i need approximately 3800$ more in living expenses (tuition not included) to get through my consolidation without missing any bills.

is EI a possibility while completing my consolidation? does anyone have experience with that?

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

thread moved to Canadian nursing programs as your questions are specific to Canada. I am so sorry you are experiencing this....I wish you the best.

[sam89]

I wish I had some advice to offer you. I'm not sure how EI is suppose to help you, usually it is paid to you if you have been laid off, taking sick leave, or maternity leave. I'm not sure if social asisstance (Ontario Works) will help either if you are earning a small income. If another post you mentioned you had a spouse, is there anyway he/she could co-sign or ask his/her family? Sorry I don't have any other advice to offer. Good luck.

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

You won't be eligible for EI, because you have to be available to work. OSAP takes into consideration ALL sources of income, so if you have a spouse, or if you live with your parents, you're not likely to qualify. Any vehicle you own valued over a certain amount will also be included in their calculations. The sad truth is that OSAP isn't there to care about people, they're there to assist students who qualify for assistance. They aren't concerned with what sacrifices people make or how hard it is to make ends meet. They look at numbers and that's all. About the only thing I can think of is to apply for a student line of credit. You'll need a co-signer and will have to pay the interest every month until you graduate when you'll also have to begin repaying the principle.

[Novo]

I feel for ya. I was in a similar situation. If you work during the school year to pay off tuition and living expenses, they tell you that you've made to much and don't qualify. If you don't work and focus on school, you're burdened with massive debt at graduation. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

You won't be eligible for EI. You should be able to take out a student line of credit without a co-signer if you're only looking for $3800, your income seems fine, not sure about your credit though. Another thing you could do is write a letter to OSAP explaining your extenuating circumstances. Yeah, it'll get to some paper-pusher but I don't think you have much to lose and it may even help. You could also try a credit union and explain your situation (emphasize that you're almost near completion - give proof of potential income) usually they're more lenient than the big banks.

Just a word to every other student out there, income gained during the year can disqualify you from funding if you hit a certain amount/ yr.

Good luck, I hope it works out.

[chickpea7]

Have you tried to get a student line of credit from the bank? A friend who was not eligible for OSAP did just that.