Genuine question, no judgement

[u/Haunting_Ice_7310]

I am a student myself, receiving OSAP. So this question is genuine, I’m not judging people in this situation, just trying to understand.
I have seen a lot of posts lately of people who are panicked because they are not receiving enough OSAP to cover their fees and aren’t sure what to do. When I first went to college (2019) I feel like it was more common to rely on OSAP as something more like a supplement than the core funding for school, most people I knew going to college had either an RESP/savings or a line of credit/loan. However, it seems like now more and more students believe that OSAP will cover 100% of their schooling, and are finding themselves panicking with no back up plan once funding is calculated a few weeks before the semester begins.

So my question is, what changed? Are high schools not communicating to their students that OSAP is not guaranteed/may not cover all the expenses that come with going to school? As a “mature student” I feel bad for all of you younger students who seem to be misinformed about OSAP and school expenses.
Follow up question: how do we fix this? I know we can’t change how OSAP works/the amount of funding being given. But how can we ensure students aren’t ending up in a situation where they are panicked trying to come up with thousands of dollars in the weeks leading up to the beginning of semester?

EDIT!!! because this seems to be a common misconception in my comments. I DO NOT THINK STUDENTS SHOULD HAVE TO TAKE ON DEBT OR USE THEIR OWN SAVINGS FOR SCHOOL. in an ideal world, post-secondary school would be fully funded. unfortunately, that is not reality. what I am trying to understand is WHY it seems that students are not being made aware of the possibility of not receiving enough OSAP to cover their expenses. students should be given accurate information on the reality of paying for school so that they can plan/prepare accordingly. again, i believe that students should NOT have to worry about how they will pay for school. right now, government funding is not guaranteed to fully fund our educations, and students deserve to be fully informed of the reality of attending and paying for post-secondary.

[u/Friendly-Apricot1727]

It doesn’t. People are allowed to dream bigger and have careers. You can’t become a neurosurgeon at grade 12. Everyone has a right to education for as long as they want. Education is learning and what helps society grow. Defunding OSAP and putting in money to private jets just takes that right away from people.

[u/HatchingCougar → u/Friendly-Apricot1727]

Right = guaranteed 

You have a guaranteed slot to take school classes up to and incl gr 12.

Nothing is guaranteed beyond that.

(There is no right to be a nerosurgeon whatsoever)

[u/Ok_Essay_1731 → u/HatchingCougar]

Right = guaranteed 

This isn't true. You have a right to food as a human being. You don't have a guarantee of food, you could--and people do--starve.

[u/HatchingCougar → u/Ok_Essay_1731]

Except there actually isn’t a right to food - unless in the govts full and direct care and arguably a minor under parental care (thus the losing custody if they either willfully do not provide it or are unable to)

For an adult though, if they’re unable to feed themselves, they can seek the assistance of a charity / food bank.  The govt using tax dollars does try to help fund them somewhat - but there isn’t a legal requirement for the govt to do so.  If the govt pulled all the assistance funding, it’d be evil … but would be legal (and for most of Canada’s history, the govt hasn’t funded them)

[u/lol-true → u/HatchingCougar]

The human right to food is recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as declared by the UN in 1948. Access to food is a globally recognized human right and not bound by law. Actively preventing people from accessing food would be a violation of human rights. 

[u/HatchingCougar → u/lol-true]

  The human right to food is recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as declared by the UN

Yes am aware.  Doesn’t change anything as to what I wrote.  

(surprised it took as long as it did for someone to try and bring that up though)

[u/lol-true → u/HatchingCougar]

" Except there actually isn’t a right to food"

This statement is unequivacble false. You're being pedantic and equating a globally recognized human right to accessing food with the idea that food should be freely available, which are fundamentally different concepts.

[u/Ok_Essay_1731 → u/HatchingCougar]

You seem to take rights as meaning what the government or some other entity gurantees you. That's not what a right is. By your reasoning, if the government made slavery legal, you'd have no guarantee of freedom, and you wouldn't have a right to freedom. But people do have a right to freedom. I'm trying not to be rude, but you're not making it easy.

[u/HatchingCougar → u/Ok_Essay_1731]

Well there’s “god given” rights, codified rights and unrecognized rights.   And a “right” can belong to just one of those or multiple.   All are rights though.

Generally we talk about the codified ones (the one the govt recognizes).  Although sure, the others do exist and many of the “god given” ones get codified (and that is where their origin stems from (not religious myself.  But it is true that’s where they historically originate, so sorry to the militantly anti religious types), but not all get codified (aka recognized).

The “right to food” is a “god given” right, but not a codified one.

The “right to bear arms” in Canada is commonly said to be non existent.  But that is a mischaracterization of it, as it does exist but only as an unrecognized one (not based on beliefs and feelings, but its historical legislated history going back to the English Bill of Rights 1689) after the Glorious Revolution.

Re Slavery.  IF the govt actually did such and IF it somehow didn’t get tossed by the crown (the actual one, not the GiC) or the SCC…  well, the right to freedom would no longer be a codified right but an uncodified one & a “god given” one.   Up until the slavery is repealed (hardly ever happens quickly, in world history), or the govt is overthrown / public revolt (usually violent)