OSAP

[KG06]

Are we supposed to apply for OSAP beforehand, or do we wait until after receiving acceptances in June? Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I'm new at this (I don't get any OSAP for undergrad, but I know I'll need it for med school).

Thanks

[Kirsteen]

Hi there,

You may also want to think of contacting the various, large banking institutions re: medical school loans. Apparently they avidly dish out money to doctors-to-be (and at excellent rates of interest).

Cheers,
Kirsteen

[gucio93]

Hello!
Apply for OSAP after you receive your acceptance letter. Also, when you receive the acceptance package, it will likely contain information about which banks to contact about lines of credits offered to medical students. It is true that many banks offer lines of credit of approx. $20,000/year at prime. However, unless you ask at specific branches who are used to dealing with med students, the bank employees may not be aware of or familiar with this service. I know it's difficult, but be patient. Everything will fall into place :) .

[JSS02]

Hey everyone, I e-mailed the financial aid offices at the 5 Ontario schools about this, but seem to be getting mixed replies. McMaster said to apply after receiving an acceptance (i.e. not earlier than June). Queen's said to apply for OSAP as soon as I can, which I presume means March (when applications are still available), and Ottawa says that I MUST apply early to receive funding on time. Haven't heard from Western or Toronto yet. So for all the med students here, when did you personally end up filling out all the OSAP forms?

[UWOMED2005]

I applied on the web in late june, after receiving my acceptance. I wouldn't worry about until then.

I do remember Western giving us the opportunity to apply early for bursaries - I applied for those in May. Not sure if it made a difference, but I was pretty happy about the bursary I got.

Bottom line is, don't worry about it until you get your interview invitation (at the least.) Many schools (well, western at least) will provide you with information about such things at that time.

Good luck and hope to meet you interview weekend.

JJ Rader
Western Meds 2005

[Carolyn]

I also didn't apply for OSAP until June after I received my acceptance. I received notice of the amount I was going to receive sometime in July. One suggestion is to start an application if you believe your interviews went well and then just send it off once you get an acceptance. You don't get your money until September so applying in early June is probabaly sufficient.

As someone else mentioned most of the student councils have developed special lines-of-credit with banks in the area - it is important to arrange these through the specific banks because they can likely give you a much better deal. I arranged them for Mac last year and it took a while as the branches had to apply to head office in order to offer the special deal. Most of the major banks (Except TD/Canada Trust) offer Lines of Credits of $20 -25,000 at prime rate with no co-signer. I know at Mac (and I'm sure at other schools) we send out a letter or post the information when acceptances come out so that students can make use of it right away if need be (this money may be available before september - helpful in getting established in a new city). All of our bank representatives are available by email and they are extremely helpful in terms of setting up meetings - (i.e. will come to the hospital to meet you at whatever time suits you etc.)

Bursaries are also very helpful - the average student at Mac received around $6000 last year - some more, some less (depending on assets and dependents etc.) I think this is significantly more than at other schools but hopefully someone else can speak to that.

Financial concerns are uniform to almost all medical students. It is definitely important to think about how you are going to pay for your medical school and to be realistic about how much debt you will be in at the end of school (most >$70,000) - note: costs above tuition end up being a great deal more than in undergrad with REALLY expensive books, tools, appropriate clothes for clinic and lots of parking costs adding up.

For me all of this makes me very concerned about how the increasing costs of medical school are going to affect the makeup of doctors in the future. Are less affluent people still applying when they see the debt levels they are going to incur? A survey we did at Mac last year definitely showed this. Anyways, if you are concerned about the debt levels you incur when you get into medical school, I would urge you to get involved in your student councils and the provincial and national medical student groups... the more voices the better!

Hope that helps

Carolyn

[Liana]

What about for students in third year who would otherwise need OSAP for undergraduate studies? I know that I plan on applying for OSAP for next year whether I enter medical school, or return for my 4th year. Should I apply in April for OSAP for my normal school, and then have it re-evaluated in June if need be, or just wait until June? Theoretically, it would seem safer just to apply in June, but does anyone know if that's too late to apply for OSAP for non-medical school?

Thanks

[PeterHill0501]

I was talking to the Financial Aid department at University of Ottawa today. They informed me that application forms, both online and paper, for 2002 OSAP support will only be available mid-march.

Peter