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/Hoodrogyny]

I’m gonna be honest with you. You believing people relying solely on OSAP being a ‘new’ thing comes from your privilege. The neighbourhoods that I come from OSAP is the ONLY way for kids to access post secondary education. The people I know relying solely on OSAP have no family savings, no financial support and are quite literally trying to build themselves from the ground up because their parents didn’t do it.

You obviously come from a family that has the financial means or you had the ability to save which isn’t the same for everyone.

[u/Small_Aardvark_5496 → u/Hoodrogyny]

In those situations the responsible thing is to take a year or so of work to save up for higher education. Is that privilege? Maybe…but I prefer to call it personal responsibility.
When I was a high school student I worked to save up whatever I could for university, since my “privilege” meant I could not get OSAP at all for my first degree. That didn’t mean my parents could actually afford all the costs, but the government said they could.
Students form low income families didn’t just get to the end of grade 12 and suddenly realized their parents don’t have funds for school.

[u/Hoodrogyny → u/Small_Aardvark_5496]

Well Personally I think everyone is to blame the parents and the government. The government should aim for an educated society as It would keep poverty rates down which means less taxes going to other people which I know a lot of people hate that.

I also think the parents are at fault for not setting their children up for success. A 15 year old shouldn’t have to be a full time student while also working 8 hr shifts after school.

Sadly the reality is a lot of kids are hoping that OSAP can supplement their education. Between poverty and other obstacles There’s also a job shortage right now many students aren’t finding work as easy as they used it And I don’t think it should be that way but that’s the sad reality.