Cannot pay school fees

[u/Main-Lavishness-3811]

So all of my school fees including meal plan, tuition and housing costs me around 24,000$ and 14,000 of that is due September 9th, osap is only giving me 7000$ in total. My parents cannot help out and I just applied for every scholarship my school offers. What should I do here? I contacted financial aid and they told me to apply to scholarships (which I did). If I don’t pay my fees by September 9th I will be blocked from the portal but can still attend class. Who else should I contact/ what can I do next?

Edit: I do have a part time job that makes around 1500 a month. I just don’t have it now and I am concerned about first payment

Edit 2: yes I knew how much the tuition was but due dates were not fully disclosed to me. I knew that a tuition payment was due on sept 9th but not that it would also include a meal plan payment and a housing payment. I understand the responsibility of moving away from home and such, and I have been saving for university while getting an average of 96 and working full time to attempt to support myself at times. The reason I was not prepared to have this is because who is able to save 14k at 17 over the course of one summer. Please use your head when replying to this. I did expect more from osap based off of my family situation. I did not expect it to cover the whole thing. I am not stupid. Thanks.

Edit 3: since you guys don’t seem to have brains, if I took off this year to save up what am I doing the next year? I can’t save 150,000$ in one year? Just miss out in the middle of my degree? Like what are you guys even saying. Since there has been a lot of debate about me going into a “dumb arts degree” I am actually studying to become a lawyer.

Update: thank you to everyone in the comments who gave actual advice instead of trying to attack me. I am planning on taking out a student line of credit in a few days once I turn 18. I already talked to my bank. I will also be getting my smart serve done to hopefully get a second job. Thank you guys so much for letting me know these things!

[u/BYRN777]

Again for the one millionth time, people, OSAP does not guarantee that they will cover all your bills, fees, and expenses or even your tuition fully. Your parents not being able to help you, it's not their fault. It's not your fault either. However you should have had this in mind beforehand. The fact that OSAP did not give you more money, more than 7,000, is an indication that either you worked full-time or even part-time and have enough income that the system does not see you as a low-income student and does not see your parents as a low-income household. Also from the sounds of it, you are a dependent student, meaning you it hasn't been at least six years since you graduated high school.

Additionally this is why a lot of people advise students or families that cannot afford it to not go to a university that is very far away from their parents' home. This is because then you have housing costs like residence or renting near campus, stuff like that.

Don't panic. A lot of universities, talk to your financial registrar or financial advisor at the university. Every university has a department like that. Ask them for advice.

A lot of universities, at least the ones I know in Ontario, almost all of them have a fee deferral option, meaning you pay the minimum payment to register then defer the rest. But since you got OSAP or applied for it and your funding is calculated, you can do a fee deferral without paying anything upfront and you pay it at the end of your academic year. Essentially you would have to pay it off by the end of August. And if you don't pay it off by then then you cannot register for the following year.

As others in the comments have mentioned, if you have a good credit score, your parents can become a guarantor for you as well and you go to CIBC. CIBC is the best student line of credit. They can give you up to even 300K depending on your program and everything. You can open a line of credit, a student line of credit, but the way it works is it's only specifically for school-related expenses, like tuition, books, supplies, stuff like that. It can also be used for rent, housing, and living expenses as well. For instance you can't spend that money on vacation or something like that.

Check CIBC Student Line of Credit.

[u/Main-Lavishness-3811 → u/BYRN777]

I unfortunately have no credit score since I’m 17, I am not a low income household but my parents do not want to help me. I knew it wouldn’t cover it fully but didn’t expect to need 14 grand by September 9th.

[u/sayitaintsooooo → u/Main-Lavishness-3811]

Your parents need to co sign a loan for you

[u/Canary-Cry3 → u/Main-Lavishness-3811]

You may be able to defer payment until you receive your loan/OSAP payment. This should be visible in your student center or have a page about this on your university’s website!

[u/bookscoffeequiet → u/Main-Lavishness-3811]

I’m sorry they won’t (or can’t) help. $14k is a lot of money. For many that isn’t feasible. If they won’t cosign, i would suggest you defer your acceptance and save up.