McGuinty budget modernizes OSAP

It’s that time of year again. Students are busy preparing for exams and writing final papers, looking forward to a summer free from deadlines and grading. For some of you, summer-time means relaxing at the family cottage, touring Europe, and working on your tan. For those of you whose parents aren’t funding your education, whose car has been running on fumes since February and who have been living on baby carrots and Kraft Dinner for the past two months, summer is synonymous with manual labour—greenhouse work or landscaping if you have Dutch connections, tree planting if you are the brave type. Before you break out the bug spray and shelf your textbooks, however, you may want to check out the McGuinty government’s recent changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Plan.

As part of its five-year plan to generate growth in the job market, the Ontario government announced, on March 30th, that they would be “modernizing” OSAP. What does this mean for Redeemer students? Well, for those of you who have been serving coffee at Williams all year to keep your debt down, it means that you will be able to keep twice as much of your income before your earnings affect your OSAP funding. The government has doubled the income exemption for students from fifty dollars per week to one hundred dollars per week. The cap on annual student debt has also been increased, for the first time in twelve years, from $7,000 to $7,300 for a full academic year.

If you are hoping to receive your Mrs. or Mr. degree this summer (congratulations on your engagement by-the-way), Mr. McGuinty’s wedding gift to you is that the amount which your spouse is required to contribute to your education has been reduced by ten percent. If you are married or have a dependent child (and no, your new husband does not count as a dependant child), the government has doubled the vehicle exemption so that your OSAP assessment will not be affected by the fact that you own a vehicle worth up to $10,000.

If you are graduating this spring, Dalton McGuinty has an early present for you as well: the Ontario Government will pay the interest on your loan for the first six months after your graduation. This should give you enough time to apply to graduate programs and further deter paying back the rest of your OSAP. If you decide to enter the “real world” and get a job, the provincial government has joined the federal Repayment Assistance Program to ensure that no more than twenty percent of your family income will be required to pay back loans. For those of you who may still find yourselves tree planting after graduation, I would be more worried about the black flies than the collection agencies since student loan debt will be forgiven after fifteen years. To learn more about the recent changes to OSAP, or simply because you are looking for another way to put off studying for Reformed Theology, head to https://osap.gov.on.ca/eng/eng_osap_main.html.

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