As part of a protest against the province’s student aid program, five Ontario undergraduate students are entering the annals of martyrdom by budgeting just $7.50 a day for food—apparently this is what the Ontario Student Assistance Plan (OSAP) allows them. The students will be stringently frugal for three weeks in the name of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance’s Food for Thought campaign, intended to highlight the fact that OSAP doesn’t provide enough income for students. “OSAP assumes students should live below the poverty line, and that’s not good,” one student told the Star.
The soon-to-be-starving students are pledging to give up their Starbucks and Subway, with one student—gasp—deciding to crack open a cookbook: “I guess I’ll start trying out recipes.” Despite such preparations, and since success on the budgeting front would spell disaster for the campaign, we’re left wondering if it makes sense for students with an agenda to participate in such an undertaking.
• $7.50 a day is all you get on the student OSAP diet [Toronto Star]
$9000 OSAP loan
August 3, 2010 at 2:28 pm | by Frank-$880 (TTCx8mo.)
-$4800(Rentx8mo.)
-$2400(remainder of tuition even after dropping 60% of each paychequex4mo.)
-$360(internetx8mo.)
=$560
Devided over 8 months = $70/mo. for food. If I work I get $200 tops, but even one full shift per week at minimum wage will put me over the $50/week limit, so that will reduce the $9000 starting point. I will need to borrow text books and study with friends just to the the lesson plans. No phone, no TV, no clothes. Cleaning supplies will consist of dishsoap and hot water. God help me if i get sick and need medication. It isn’t possible to live on OSAP and got to school in Toronto.
7.50 a day is PLENTY in my opinion. I’ve been living on welfare while in high school, and had 200 a month for food, only occasionally needing to be offset by the food bank (only due to the fact that I couldn’t afford the bus, so shopped at the Rabba). It’s just the fact that they DON’T give 7.50 a day for food in all truth. As Frank said above me, they’ll give you something around $10 000, but rent, and other expenses are not cheap at all. I’d say at least 50% of students are “cheating” the OSAP system by hiding something, simply because they NEED to. I’ll be making cash under the table with something this year, and I’ve got some extended family helping out that OSAP has no idea about.
Really though, if I got $225 a month for food, I would be OVERJOYED! Obviously you have to give up your Starbucks and Subway, it’s called living like a student.
August 5, 2010 at 10:28 am | by drumstyxThis is ridiculous. I’ve been a student for a few years now and $7.50 a day is plenty. One year OSAP gave me so little money I had to live on $100/month for food (less than $3.50/day). Granted that was only for the one year, but just goes to show that a little goes a long way. (And no, I didn’t live off of KD and instant noodles–these students need to stop eating out every single meal and start cooking themselves. It’s healthier, too.)
I have to pay for university all by myself too and I know how much it all adds up to (outrageous tuition, textbooks, rent, food, and other living expenses). I don’t have time for a part-time job during the school year either. But OSAP (along with working summers and applying for any financial aid I’m eligible for) has generally done a good job of giving me just enough so I can scrape by every year. And really that’s all I’m asking for! Some people need to suck it up and realize that when you’re a student, you can’t live in luxury all the time–if you want the extras, pay for it out of your own pocket. So no, you do NOT need that Starbucks tea–for that price, you can probably buy 20 tea bags in the store. All this complaining is getting really excessive.
(I’m sure for some students OSAP truly isn’t enough, but for most people I think it’s just an issue of bad budgeting and spending way more than they need to.)
September 23, 2010 at 1:06 am | by skOh, and by the way, how can you possibly complain about OSAP when you own a car??? I just don’t get it. If it’s that big of a problem, sell the car, stop paying for insurance/gas every month, and take public transit like the rest of us! (Unless you really, REALLY need that car for some reason, but that’s not the case for 99% of students.)
September 23, 2010 at 1:12 am | by skI think the reason some ignorant people here are angry is because they dont understand that student loans are student LOANS. 7.50 a day is brutal for food, and I rely on my significant other to help make ends meet while I study. If OSAP were to raise the food allowance to even $10 a day life would be easier for all students, and it is not a free handout since it would be paid back upon graduation.
Student loans are not free, not handouts, not living off the government. They are a way to encourage the education of young Canadians to ensure we have a thriving economy for the future.
January 4, 2011 at 1:18 pm | by JeffWell I want to say something.
January 10, 2011 at 5:09 pm | by ChristinaI saved up the money I made from working for TWO YEARS. It took less than 5 months for it to all go to the school. And I still owe them $4000.
The money for my textbooks came out of my meal plan, meaning the only thing I can AFFORD is a large coffee or two every day.. that’s it.. $1.52. And while you might say that we don’t have to go out and get the 7 dollar meals, think again. Because other than a 7 dollar meal, you can’t GET a full meal!
As for going to pubs to party? I don’t even have a friend out here, because I’ve done nothing but study. The people I live with don’t even know who I am because I never hang out with them. I’m always studying.
I’m going tomorrow to see if I am even allowed to get a job. Because with OSAP, if you work more than they want you to, they take their money back! People seem to forget that fact! So while I’d happily work 7 days a week to pay for this, I’m not even allowed to.
Now tell me how I’m a spoiled brat…
The amount of money the Ontario “Student Assistance” Program gives is disgusting. I have rent, books, a bus pass, food, and all of my bills to cover. I work my ass off all year to the point that I don’t sleep cause I have to study at some point, NEVER EVER go out with friends, and I just scrape by.
August 6, 2011 at 4:08 pm | by Jordan