Thank you for posting this Seeler. I really do not think that a lot of adults understand where some of us students sit.

I get OSAP (Ontario Student Assistance Plan) to pay for my schooling. The last four years it has taken into account everything you stated above (estimated expenses for the year, and his annual income from summer or part time work etc) and included my parents income. OSAP assumes that your parents pay something like 40% of your schooling costs (or something like that) and does not give the option to say they're not. This year, since I've been out of high school for long enough, OSAP didn't ask my parents earnings. However, I have not received any more money than other years. I am still trying to understand how they expect a student who hasn't had a full time job for two years now (including summer) and only has a part time job now to make up that extra 40% my parents were supposedly giving me (my parents have never paid for any part of my schooling).

Another myth I have heard about student loans I'd like to dispel. If a student is getting a government loan and applies for scholarships and bursary's (and wins) they do not get that extra money even if it's given because of financial need. What I mean is this; if if I am receiving $12 000 from OSAP and get a $500 scholarship, I'm not giving $12500 in total. Instead OSAP gives me $11 500. The only way to "get ahead" through scholarships is if you can win enough to over pay OSAP.

One also has to keep in mind that, every year I have been in University, tuition has gone up. But, OSAP has not raised their loan amounts. Therefore, more and more of my loan goes to OSAP and I have less and less to live off of. I can relate to the trying to make bread and hotdogs last as long as possible by the end of the week,  only usually for me its rice....

Bethany - I wish we lived nearby so I could invite you to dinner once a week, give you some garden produce, and an apple a day.  

Hunger isn't just skid row - its hidden all around us.   

Good luck with your studies.  

I'm writing this in response to a comment I made in poor people & nutrition, but it's probably a bit better here.

Previously, a campus food bank provided some information that students with children and international students are overly represented in the students who use the food bank.  The percentage of graduate students is also higher than the percentage of undergraduates.  I can see a few reasons for this, and a few from personal experiences.

Universities are notorious for screwing up graduate student's wages.  They often are responsible for paying out scholarships, even if they are goverment monies.  I have had problems where a 'top up' scholarship (because I had a major scholarship already) was being paid out as the full amount.  Okay, fine.  I was careful not to spend the extra hundreds of dollars I was being paid every month.  I told the university right away, but it took them 3 months before they wanted the money back.  The problem was, they didn't just want the excess back, they wanted ALL of it back and I would be paid the appropriate lump sum at the end of the month.  To top it off, there was a change to my courses that I wasn't informed required paying additional tuition.  I received a letter saying that if I didn't pay it by the end of that week, it would be late and I would have late payments.  I argued with them, and said if they wanted to charge me interest and late payments on the tuition, then I would expect the same on my salary.  They backed off and allowed me to pay when I got my lump sum returned.  Many international students wouldn't have the confidence to do this.  Many students who are supporting families (especially international students, many who have wives that speak little english and kids they are supporting) would not be able to pay back the equivalent of a whole month of their expected salary.

I've heard of students not getting paid at all certain months due to universities screw ups.  Scholarships also run out.  I was getting paid every month, but now am not.  Many schorships are only for 4 years, very few people finish in 4 years or less.  International students also pay more tuition than Canadian students, and are eligible for less scholarships.  We are also not always informed of our pay.  We were not told that if we had scholarships and were TAing, our salaries would decrease in the summer - for 4 months.  This wasn't true for students who were paid by TAing only, their supervisors paid them more in the summer.  Someone dropped out when all her money for those 4 months were going to her rent and medical expenses, nothing left over for food or anything else.

There are also rules that don't exist in the typical workplace.  When I was sick, I had a tough decision to make.  I was told I needed to be working 60 hours a week or not at all.  If I took a leave of absence I was not allowed to work anywhere, or else I would lose my scholarship.  I worked around it, but it took a lot of time, effort and fighting to figure out a different option.

Many grad students get paid as TAs.  Sometimes pay increases (or even if you are allowed to TA the next semester) are based on your evalution by students.  Every time I've TAed students were relieved to see me, someone they can understand!  I am empathetic to this, I have a difficult time understanding certain accents, but unfortunately it negatively effects international student ratings.  There's also the cultural differences, where the TAs are shocked by the lack of respect they are shown compared to how they would be treated back home.  Their response is not always the best, and negatively affects their ratings.  Some international students get great ratings, but I think they do have to try harder than those of us who are from Canada.

Some international students are quite well off, and have no problems.  Others worked very hard to get here, and are also sending money back home to parents who can use the help.

I don't think we just need to be offering help to these students. I think we need to be raising awareness, asking the right questions about why this is happening, and asking our governments at all levels to change these practices, or challenge them on our behalf. If we know these students (and even if we don't), perhaps we need to be writing letter to our MP's, MLA's, ombudsman,mayors, local papers, etc. I'm really tired of feeling like we average citizens who can only do so much being made to feel like we should be doing more and more while, with our tax dollars, our government is doing less and less...trading away our social safety net to big corporations who profit off the backs of those struggling to get by. That's where our taxes are going, and that's why our services are getting cut or downgraded. They're entrusting once public and accountable services into the hands of, increasingly, big multinational corporations who have no accountability to the public to do the right thing...they are only accountable to themselves to make money. Of course we should help as best we can, but so should they, and they're not. Our politicians are paid by us and they're supposed to represent us...and our hungry neighbours. This is another example of what the Occupy movement is about. We can only be so generous, yet our government is allowing corporations, and their CEOs to profit. If  the top 1% of the world's population control 40% of the wealth, and we are offering contracts of our social services for bidding to these wealthy tycoons..and clawbacks of things like student loans are preventing students from keeping their heads above water...how will the income disparity ever be solved? I'm not so good at math...but  I can figure out that that means that 60% of the wealth is spread amongst 99% of the people.These students will be in huge debt that they may never be able to pay off because jobs are being outsourced or eliminated. Yet, they are much better off than those living in third world poverty. there are no easy answers, but the root cause is the way our world economic system is set up to encourage this   I think we need to keep reminding and reminding our politicians of this...stay aware...write to them, petition them, bring the good ones onside to help, get involved with advocacy groups, join peaceful marches...whatever we can.

In some ways, people are better of not going to post secondary school...if they show any business potential or have a good idea...so they don't rack up debt. Yet at the same time, it might mean they have to become prt of the corporate machine if they want to climb the ladder to a decent living.