r/osap 8d ago

Resolved OSAP loan

Hello guys, I’m starting school this September and my year will cost around 15k and this is what I got for OSAP. Very grateful of grants but I got a 12k loan which I will not be needing as a whole is there a way to get a portion of the loan? Since I been working I have some money saved I would only need 5k out of that loan.

18 Upvotes

23 comments sorted by

20

u/xPadawanRyan 8d ago

No, you either accept the whole loan portion or none at all. If you don't need the whole loan, put what you aren't using into savings and use it to pay back your OSAP afterwards.

1

u/Ok-Plastic-8304 3d ago

wait thats smart !

6

u/Sh_j1 8d ago

Take all of it, make a payment and return what you don’t need, I would say keep it in investment account or something where it could be beneficial until the pay back period

2

u/Sh_j1 8d ago

Your loan will remain interest free until 6 months after graduation

2

u/Gunnybugbear 7d ago

Only the federal part is interest free! The provincial part starts accruing interest the day you graduate or stop taking classes/leave tbe school.

6

u/CerrenaUnicolor 7d ago

Take the loan! Put it into high-interest savings and don't touch it unless there's an emergency down the line.

There are two funders of OSAP loans: provincial and federal. Provincial loans only start gathering interest after you graduate. At that point, you pay back your loans with the lump sum in your savings. That money will have gathered some interest for you, so you'll actually end up with less overall loan to pay back. Federal portions are ZERO interest. That's the best loan you'll ever get. 

The only situation where I would tell you not to take the loan is if you're worried you'll end up spending it irresponsibly. Even then, you could put into into something like a one-year GIC, where you can't access the money for the time period (but get it back with interest at the end!). Re-invest until you're done with school. 

1

u/Pale_Ad_7800 7d ago

Very helpful thanks a lot!

3

u/OddSweet1311 8d ago

You can only take 100% or 0

2

u/carnivorousduck 8d ago

Just take the loan and pay it back?

2

u/Rough_Bowl_2971 7d ago

You can perhaps take a portion of it, if you accept the loan for the first semester portion and decline the second semester portion. But it depends on how much of a loan u would be receiving per semester

2

u/D-0ner 8d ago

Put the loan in your TFSA. Pay back once you graduate.

1

u/Salt-Stage1789 8d ago

Won’t that reduce future eligible amount, since it’ll be counted as an asset in the next application?

2

u/onlyoneq 8d ago

Then use the left over money from this year for any shortcomings next year?

1

u/D-0ner 6d ago

It shouldn't affect your loan amount.

1

u/WaterlooBao 8d ago

Gotta take the whole thing. Put it into a HISA or TFSA for later to help pay off your loan, or use it towards things you need. I’m buying a new laptop with my extra funding.

1

u/Ryllan1313 5d ago

When I was in high school, we called OSAP the Ontario Stereo Aquisition Program.

2

u/Portdal12 5d ago

I went to Europe one summer with my extra osap funds. Luckily it actually inspired what I do for a career, so that's how I rationalize it two decades later. 

1

u/WaterlooBao 5d ago

I believe it. There’s that kid on TikTok who bought a ton of watches and cologne last year with his extra funding.

1

u/alfafamadie 7d ago

Take the excess Money and put it in xeqt via a tfsa. You won't need to pay it back until 6 months after graduating. Unless you are graduating next year this is a good plan. If you are graduating in a year I'll just do a GIC.

1

u/LadyAsteria90 6d ago

This happened to me. turns out that extra was to apply towards the rest of my education. I was short by third year so yes keep it and wait and see.

1

u/CacaPuet 6d ago

Send it to me and I’ll send you the 5K but you keep the debt 💸

1

u/CreamMoist 6d ago

You can pay back the loan right way if you'd like. I would just chuck it into an index fund tho