Archived Letter - 448

Dear Editor,    As an university student, I fill out the OSAP application form every year in hopes to get some form of financial assistance from the government and to be eligible for many bursaries on campus. But, OSAP seems to be more arbitrarily distributed than to meet the purpose of financial assistance for students.     Every semester when OSAP is handed out to students, it seems like you are getting punished more and more for having a part-time job while in school as you see the total of OSAP diminishing. The more a student works during the semester, the less money they receive as a OSAP loan. This does not make sense. The people who need a job are probably the ones who are in financial need, am I wrong? The government seems to be rewarding those students who are not taking the initiative and getting work experience, while punishing those of us who actually are financially aware by getting a job to relieve some of the financial burden. It is as if the government is trying to discourage students from working by handing out less of a student loan for them. Should it not be the opposite? Shouldn't the government be rewarding students who have the initiative to get a job in the first place? The students who are working during school will probably be more reliable to repay their loans to the government as they already have this working mentality, rather than those students who decide to spend their OSAP money on alcohol instead of school.    -Jacqueline Fitzpatrick

Jacqueline Fitzpatrick