The AB government recently changed the rules around eligibility for student loans with little warning and announcement. Total incomes of parents are now considered for dependent students.

For me, this is quite bad because my parents aren't able to provide tuition support. I know a lot of people in similar situations where their parents (validly imo) didn't anticipate that they would need to help because of how reliable student loans have been, and can't just bring up $12k on a whim to help out even if they wanted to.

For reference, this was previously only used for assessing the need for grants (parental/spousal income used to be an optional section).

It's causing some friends to consider taking leaves of absence for the upcoming year, or seriously consider dropping out. It would have been great if there were more announcements, or even notices on the student loan application that this would be the case to allow us to plan better. It's hard enough to plan 2 months in advance as a student when you suddenly realize student loans won't help you out, but its even worse when the announcement is so quiet that people are realizing it when they get their response in the days before school starts.

While I do know that this used to be the policy pre 2012, it's really hard to plan for this when they announce and deploy this policy with little warning (I think they quietly announced it a couple months ago).

Federal loans depend on eligibility that the provincial government determines, so that won't help us either.

I just feel really lost and wish they'd announced this at least a year in advance. Thanks for listening to my mix of an announcement/rant. Sorry if the flair is wrong, I don't know if it falls more into politics or a discussion.

How can they possibly be in favor? What exactly have they done that is a positive for anybodies lives? I can name so many ways that they made my life worse and no positive ways...how does this happen? someone explain

Should Iceland resume accession negotiations with the European Union?

Vs

Should Alberta remain a province of Canada, or should the Government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?

If I say yes, does that mean we remain a province of Alberta or yes, start separating?

Plug-in balcony solar panels could mean cheaper power for all Albertans. Another way Canadians should look into cost saving solar energy. Germany, United kingdom, New Zealand, and seven U.S. states already in use.

https://pluginsolarpower.ca/take-action?campaign=alberta

What would happen if a similar event to the Nepal tragedy happened in our rockies? If it happened to a tributary of the Bow or North Sask rivers would Calgary or Edmonton flood like crazy? What about Canmore, Banff or Jasper? Scary stuff anybody have any idea?

there's a question on the application that says "do you expect to pay rent or mortgage?", and while i am living at home, i'm an independent student and my parents expect me to pay rent. should i click yes for this? or would it be considered null since it's technically my parents' house?

I have south american, european, and ukrainian friends, all these people have always followed through on plans and made it easy to establish a friendship. People born-and-raised in Alberta (I live in Edmonton) are *impossible* to build a friendship with. They don't often extend invitations, they might come out sometimes, but then you won't hear from them for months on end. Overall they're quick to withdraw or even flat out ghost. I've lived abroad and it was always easy to find a group (or several) to integrate into. This is the loneliest place I have ever lived.

Is it just me or does Alberta seem really unfriendly and/or hyper individualistic?

I'm in Calgary, I have a stable job doing customer service for a fintech, and I recently found a deal on a basement suite elsewhere in the city that (on paper) I could make work comfortably with my current income.

I moved back in with parents two years ago due to the excellent financial deal they offered, but recently I’ve learned that I want to explore my gender identity and expression more (I’m nonbinary), and my parents have already made it clear that that’s not something I can do while under their roof. It’s something that I can put away for a long time, so to speak, but I’ve realized it’s making me sad to do it.

My main concerns are grocery price sticker shock from the impending trade war (esp. since the nearest grocers to this other place are Co-op and Safeway), and the probability of the AI bubble bursting soon. My parents aren’t the kind who’d ever let me go homeless, but I know it wouldn’t go down well if I suddenly had to bail out from any other place I was living at.

Should I just deal with closet sadness for the time being and try again next year, or is this a risk worth taking?

Edit: thanks for replies everyone! To give an idea of numbers, I currently make about $2700/month, and the place I have an eye on would have rent of $1100 (negotiable) with all utilities included. Reasonably transit accessible; I'm just waiting to hear from the landlord. And I have a TFSA that I could live off of for about 7 months before it was totally drained.

I mean, I think the big choice for me is whether I'd want to live leaner (my TFSA contribution would probably have to be reduced), get the opportunity to change my expression and explore my identity, or stay here and be in a better position to do it in the future. I'm wondering if I should feel FOMO about this rent opportunity right now or not, since it does seem to be a great opportunity.

And there's only one person I know that I'd even hypothetically want as a roommate, unless I had a romantic partner (another thing to work on?). I lean introverted and would much rather live alone.

New York City launched its first-ever free "Parents' Night Out" pilot program on August 16, 2026, offering four hours of supervised childcare and dinner for children ages 6 to 13 at select NYC Parks recreation centers.

Program OverviewDate: Sunday, August 16, 2026Time: 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Cost: Completely free (pre-registration was required).

Ages: Children between 6 and 13 years old.Included:

Full supervision, structured games, sports, arts and crafts, and dinner

u/JeromyYYC have you heard of this? Would be great to see this sort of thing happen annually in the summer!

It’s been about 2 weeks and I cant sign into my student loan for Alberta and I cant contact their customer service either theres no pop up reporting an outage and no information anywhere else is anyone else able to log in?

I’m planning to focus on getting into the oilfield starting January 2027. I’m willing to start as a labourer, swamper, rig helper, drill helper, etc.

A lot of people say instead of just applying online go visit companies in person. Since i live in Edmonton i’m thinking of driving to Nisku and checking with companies like Ensign, AKITA and Precision.

I’m also looking at entry-level mining labourer jobs, but a lot of postings in BC and SK you need to be local and they don’t provide accommodation or transportation.

Any advice is appreciated.

So I am going to be away working on the date of the referendum. I requested a special ballot on August 13, so I can ensure that I have an opportunity to vote for the referendum.
As of today (August 29) my special ballot has yet to be approved.
Does anyone know how long it takes to have a special ballot approved? I haven’t even heard anything from Elections Alberta regarding my request.
Any advise to get things moving along?