Hi,
I’m entering 3rd year this upcoming term and, financially, my school savings just aren’t enough. This may seem like a simpleminded question but, how does one apply for OSAP??Also, are there specific deadlines I should be aware of??How will I know if the application is successful? Will anything appear on ROSI?
Thanks!
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hey there,
i really wish you’d specified which term you were going into. does ‘upcoming’ mean the summer or fall 2014? *diva sigh* accuracy, people…
‘s ok, i’m over it now. so, if you’re taking courses in the summer, you’ve missed the march 31st deadline to apply for osap and defer payments. you’ll now need to go physically to enrolment services and fill out a deferral form – that is, if you’re not able to pay for the courses in full by april 24th.
if you’re talking about fall 2014, then you’ve got lots of time left to apply, but you should still do so as soon as possible. the application opens in may, but the sooner you apply after that, the sooner you will be assessed* and the sooner you will be all ready to defer your payments** in august. there’s no real deadline for osap; just make sure to have it done a couple weeks before the date you need to defer payments to the school, which is august 19th.
as for applying, it’s fairly straightforward. it’s done online, and utm has released a really great step-by-step powerpoint about how to do it if you haven’t before (but obviously just don’t put UTM as the school you’re attending if you’re downtown or at UTSG).
OSAP typically communicates with you by e-mail when anything significant happens, good or bad, so just keep an eye out there for information about your application. but don’t worry too much about verifying if you’ve done it right; if you just go through the steps and fill everything out as the website prompts you to, you should be fine.
i don’t think anything happens on ROSI when you apply; you just go to ROSI to defer your fees after you’ve applied for OSAP.
i hope that all made sense. please e-mail me if you run into any problems!
best,
aska
* assessed = i.e. for financial need, which determines the amount of funds released to you.
** deferring payments = osap gets released to you in chunks throughout the school year. ?this means that if you’re getting osap to pay your fees, you need to let the school know that it’ll take you some time to pay them, but that you understand it’s your responsibility to pay them, and that you will pay when the money is available to you. this is done on ROSI, and is called “deferring your payment.”
P.S. by the by, it’s not a simple-minded question. believe me, i wish i’d had someone to ask about it when i first applied.