childhood V3.0

[the_siobhan]

I'm sitting here, wearing my glasses and drinking coffee, and reading the OSAP website.

"Change" appears to be the order of the day.

Comments

[50-ft-queenie.livejournal.com]

OSAP? You're thinking of going back to school?

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Thinking about it.

It ultimately depends on how much assistance I would qualify for. I can do it if it means working part-time, but not carrying a full-time job at the same time.

[50-ft-queenie.livejournal.com]

Wow. Very cool. :)

What are you looking to study?

[the-fury.livejournal.com]

I was able to pull about 9K a year in benefits when I was working 4.0 credits (minimum full time schedule), although that was about 5-10 years ago.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

If I qualify for the maximum, I'd be getting about the same as I'm making at work now.

So I could work part-time and put a few bucks aside for the inevitable post-graduation-unemployed-and-paying-back-loans period.

Now I just have to find out how much I would qualify for. At one time, owning a house was an instant disqualification. Hopefully that's changed.

[50-ft-queenie.livejournal.com]

Why would owning a house disqualify you? On the grounds that if you can afford to buy a house, you can afford to pay your own tuition? Or are you supposed to sell the house and go back to renting?

First thing we do, we'll kill all the bureaucrats.

[inulro.livejournal.com]

Or are you supposed to sell the house and go back to renting?

Probably, yes.

One guy I knew went back to school at the age of 26, not having lived with mom and dad since he was 18. Because the college he had chosen to study at was in his home town, they actually told him he couldn't have a loan because he could go live with his parents.

I didn't get a loan in second year because the amount that they said my parents should be able to contribute towards my education was more than my mother's income! (And my mom didn't exactly make mimum wage). In fact my parents had no money & didn't approve of my life, so that was the year I didn't eat every day. (This was Sask. student loans, who penalize you for going out of province, but still).

In grad school, I got exactly the same amount of student assistance as my brother. Who was an undergrad ($1000 less in fees) and living at home. I was paying rent in TO.

THEN there's the fact that all your Canada Student Loans had to be brokered through the same branch of the same bank. Which sucks if you attend more than one institution in more than one province.

I could probably supply a thousand reasons why I would rather sell my body to make tuition than ever deal with the judgemental lottery system that is student loans ever again

[individuation.livejournal.com]

What are you thinking of studying?

I miss being a student.

[siani-hedgehog.livejournal.com]

i hated being a student. i think, in retrospect, i may have hated it less than my current life, but still...

[individuation.livejournal.com]

Woah...hey there flash from the past.

Being a student meant much less stress, much more free time, and MUCH less responsibility.

I miss it.

[inulro.livejournal.com]

Goodness yes!

But although I'm not a really money-oriented person, grad school ended up going by the wayside because there comes a time in your life when not being able to afford decent food & places to live switches from minor inconvenience to major health hazard.

[siani-hedgehog.livejournal.com]

i don't have any more responsibility now than i did as a student - i had rent to pay, food to buy, etc, and i still do. really, given how many pets i had, i have less responsibilities now. only *real* difference is that i now get paid for being bored to tears, and feel less indebted to my mother as she's not giving me any allowance. i do have much less free time, which is pissing me off, but if it gets that bad, i shall go back to a smaller home and a part time job. the only thing that was much better about being a student was being able to be a much bigger freak.

[individuation.livejournal.com]

i miss that too (being a bigger freak)...
I could never work part time and afford to live. And as a teacher, I usually work 90 hour weeks (between grading, lesson planning, meeting with students, meeting with coworkers about students, teaching, etc.)

As a student, they got 13-17 hours of my time for classes.... and probably another 15 hours for homework....

God... an average of a 30 hour work week.
*sigh*