So I applied to OSAP later than the recommended deadline of June 30. I applied July 14. I checked all documents required that needed to be signed and printed, and there’s nothing that’s listed there to be done by me.
It’s Aug 11, and my application has been on hold for about a week. Stating the following: “Your application is currently on hold and cannot be processed any further because your school must provide information about your program (e.g., course load) and education-related costs (e.g., tuition, compulsory fees, books and equipment). Your funding cannot be calculated without this information. The financial aid office at your school will send this information to the ministry electronically. Generally this information is provided by June. Check back then.”
However, I applied later than…and now I can’t defer my fees on ROSI/ ACORN because I haven’t received an estimate.
Also “Before your funding can be calculated, the financial aid office at your school must provide the ministry with information about your education-related costs such as tuition, compulsory fees, and book and equipment costs. The financial aid office will send this information electronically approximately four weeks from the date you submitted your OSAP application. If after this time period, information on your funding is not available, you may wish to follow up with your financial aid office.
It’s been 4 weeks and nothing. I can’t afford to make a minimum payment and I know its my fault but applying late for OSAP isn’t new to me. Last year I applied even later, I applied July 19 and got my updated estimate on Aug 13.
So my question…what’s going on? [ I will call registrar and find out-but I need some advice because I’m getting overly stressed over something like this] The deadline is Aug 18 to make minimum payment and September 1 to defer fees.
ALSO: DOES IT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE NAME OF MY PROGRAM? I LISTED “LIFE SCIENCES” THIS YEAR AND AS DID LAST YEAR BUT LAST YEAR’S APPLICATION SAYS UOFT ARTS AND SCIENCE [which I can’t list under osap so I manually ended up typing LIFE SCIENCES]
Is it possible that I’m in limbo right now because I haven’t assigned the correct program name?
thanks so much as always!
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hey there,
it’s possible that it’s taking a bit longer for the application to go through because you typed ‘Life Sciences’ manually, instead of selecting it from a drop-down list.
however, while that might be the case, you have no way of knowing for sure why your application is being held up. also, all the pending information that OSAP needs at this point has to come from enrolment services, so there’s no way of speeding up the process.
my point is that the situation is almost entirely out of your hands now.
what you can do is what you already intuited was a good idea: go to your registrar’s office ASAP. see if there’s a possibility that they will register you manually.
however, without proof that you’ve been assessed for any funding from OSAP, they may not be able to help you. making a small payment (less than the minimum payment to register, but more than, like…$20) and proving to the office that you’ve made the payment may be enough for them – it’ll depend on the office and their policies.
the problem is that they can’t just be registering people on good faith – they need some proof that you will be able to make a payment at some point. it’s a cold, hard world we live in.
however, i would still talk with them about it right away to see what your options are.
this is a really crappy situation, but y’all gotta remember: the university is a huge, bureaucratic institution. so is the provincial government. stuff takes a long time to be processed. it’s in your own interest to follow those recommended deadlines so you don’t get into sticky situations like this in the future.
crossing my fingers that your funding estimate goes through,
aska