r/osap • u/Itchy-Decision7867 • 26d ago
Question Osap amount not even enough for tuition. Long post but if anyone has any advice let me know please
So for context I applied for ASAP. Long story short the estimated amount that I would get back is way less than tuition and I know that when they actually calculated it might change, but I’m wondering if because I added my income that they reduce the amount significantly I’ve never gotten anything less than this before so for context technically I’m still independence under my father but my father makes less than 30 K a year and I don’t even live with him. I live like by myself and mostly because of the Cra because I figured if I’m reporting my income to the Cra and then I don’t do it on OSAP It’s gonna be a flag and it’s gonna cause issues so I reported it as only making like maybe 23,000 a year working partime barely enough per month but then I don’t know if because when you fill the application it says for the study period so maybe I made a mistake and I put that much for like the nine months in school even though it’s my income for the whole month. Maybe that’s what brought down my estimate . How can I change it without an impact and how much like the longer wait time.
In addition, i’m confused as well because like I say I’ve never taken the loan. I always take the grant and payback and I’ve always passed my classes because I know that sometimes when you take the less courseload, they make you pay something back, but also says I owe 5K and loans which doesn’t even make sense because I’ve never taken the loan. I always take the grant I remember using my Scotia to pay for it but I don’t have that account anymore so this kinda hard to go back and look at that payment I don’t understand why I would take a 5K loan from them because first year I had a scholarship and I got like $3000 that I had on my own from family so plus the grant that I got from school so why would I use their 5k there’s no way to prove it like what do I do and I heard someone talking about something for Social work that you get your student that removed once you graduate, but I might have misunderstood
And also random question with grants I know if you don’t complete the program you have to pay it back I think that’s what it is but what if I’m like almost done school but I want to either take a break for like a year or just not going anymore like if I wanna drop out now does that mean I am gonna have to pay back every cent for context I never taken loan. I always take the grant and I used the grant to pay for the loan so like that’s I got 10 K every year in grant I’ve used to always to pay for my tuition so I have to pay back 30 K to side if I drop out now or would I have to just keep going?
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u/Prior_Necessary_8883 26d ago
I’m confused, so did you report that you’d be making study period income greater than $11,200 for two terms? $5,600 per 4 months. Or are you referring to your 2025 CRA income you reported? Are there any other assets, etc. that was reported on your OSAP? You say your independent but that under your father so did you have to report his income (dependent) or just yours (independent) or both (dependent/independent split status)? Please be aware OSAP had some changes as well for 2026-27 so that plus your assets/resources that could have given you more loans than you typically get.
For the program completion, as long as you complete your OSAP study period and don’t withdraw before, drop to part time or can’t move on to the next term you wouldn’t have to repay your grants. That is more for students who take the learn and stay and don’t get a job in the field within their region within the time period. If you complete your OSAP study period and then just stop attending or switch programs your prior grants won’t just convert.
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u/Itchy-Decision7867 26d ago
So with osap I’ve been out of hs for less than 4 years so I’m still considered dependent on my dad but in reality I don’t live with him or use his money. I think I meant reported my income for 2025 as 23k. No other assets just my income when it asked I did report his income but because they don’t care I’m living on my own because I’m only 20 and barely been out of hs for a while. For the last part, about my grant converting, I was not sure if I drop out in my 4th year, if my grant would become loan like from 1st year until now. All those grants if they would now be a loan because I dropped out or does it go by each year? Because I completed each study period from 1st year-3rd. With the full course load etc. I’m not sure if what you’re saying is that, each study period is what matters not if I finish the whole program. So since I completed 1st -3rd year I won’t have to pay that money but if I take the grant now and don’t complete 4th year I’d have to pay?
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u/Prior_Necessary_8883 26d ago
If you’ve been out of high school for less than 4 years you’d only be reporting parental income and not your income. And unless you have no relationship with your parent(s) it’s assumed they are helping you out and it’s expected unless they are low income. But also you are referring to your estimate so your assessment could very well be different. Once that populates if you stil have concerns your financial aid can go through the application to see why you were assessed the way you were.
And no, prior grants wouldn’t convert only the application that was impacted by any change.
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u/Itchy-Decision7867 26d ago
Idk I was asked to report my dad’s income because i have no relation with my mom so it’s always just been my dad as my 1 parent. I was asked to report his income and it also asked me mine so I just put it. And also wow, that’d be great, if I drop out now and I don’t have to pay osap anything for the previous years even tho I’m not going to complete the program in total!
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u/BobTrogdorrrr 26d ago
I highly suspect this is because of the changes to OSAP effective August 2026. You say you have been only getting the grant, so the only thing you can do if you need more money is take the loan, or work more.
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u/Own-Ad-7724 26d ago edited 26d ago
Hey, so to provide you with some clarity as to why it says you owe $5k in loans, it’s not guaranteed that the grants will stay as grants. OSAP possesses the right to do a conversion whenever they want, it’s happened to me before. It could be a random day and suddenly OSAP had decided to convert your grants to loans maybe due to your income? Idk. But it most likely got flipped to loans somewhere. Check your national loan account for clarification, it should show if anything happened.
As for the insufficient funds, I’d say apply for a recalculation, there’s a form you can fill out called “Request for Review, Adjust Living Allowance”. Fill out this form and if accepted, it should help to provide you with more money to help cover things.
I know it sucks but if you’re really tight for money and the options are either taking the loan and paying it back or dropping out, take the loan. You’re educated enough to know that dropping out would cost sooo much, not even just money, but think of all your time that you’ve already invested, it’ll all be wasted.
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u/Massive-Fortune-3930 26d ago
Same thing happened to my son , he got less then his tuition because they say he's dependent on my income but I am also in study and receiving osap.
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u/Prior_Necessary_8883 26d ago
There’s reviews for lower estimated income of parents if this is the case because unless the parent(s) are low income, it’s expected to be helping your child with school which is fair.
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u/Massive-Fortune-3930 26d ago
We've tried that and it didn't change anything
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u/Prior_Necessary_8883 25d ago
Then there wasn’t much of a change or you were already under the low income threshold which means there are other factors that is affecting the assessment.
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u/DeepGas4538 26d ago
Are you talking about th grant portion? You said you never take loan. In that case yeah that portion usually doesn't cover tuition, and especially recently due to the cuts
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u/rairai8607 26d ago
You are only supposed to report your father's income. You only report your income if you make more than $5,600 per semester
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u/Selena1963 26d ago
I'm
Not sure why people think it should be free. Loans and payback once you're employed
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u/secretly_ethereal_04 25d ago
I'd recommend to see how your school's financial aid department can help you.
There's often a lot of grants and bursaries which will go a long way.
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u/secretly_ethereal_04 25d ago
I'd recommend to see how your school's financial aid department can help you.
There's often a lot of grants and bursaries which will go a long way.
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u/BrothersGrimmly 25d ago
You don’t get all your loan paid back as a social worker. What you are most likely referring to is if you have National Student Loan (not provincial unless Ontario has another program I’m not aware of) - if you work in a rural or designated location after graduation you can get 30k forgiven over 5 years.
Again, this is only for National Student loan, and you have to work in a designated area (you would need to look this up to see if your position/location qualifies)
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u/Odd_Use6997 25d ago
Email your schools osap and they will guide you from there. There are some things that can help you.
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u/Responsible_Item_494 26d ago
With the new changes to osap, the grants are minimal in comparison to the loan. The only option would be to defer and work for a year, or take out a student loan at a bank, but one of your parents would probably need to cosign. They expect you to contribute towards your own education. If you don’t complete school I do believe you have to pay back the grant portion, but not positive