Frequently Asked Questions (OSAP)

Students can not generally receive both OSAP AND Social Assistance.  However, from OSAP's perspective, if a student is approved to receive social assistance while they are a full-time student, the social assistance payments are a direct resource in the OSAP assessment and are deducted dollar for dollar.

From Social Assistance's perspective, they will not generally allow a student to remain on social assistance if they are a full-time post-secondary student.  They would (generally speaking) expect the student to apply for OSAP funding for their educational costs, which would also include the living allowance.

Students should be checking with their caseworker who can assist them with determining what their best course of action should be.

If you are taking a double major, choose your first major. The OSAP program names only contain the program as identified with your first major of study only. If you are studying in the Bachelor of Arts and Science program, search Arts & Science.

If you have selected the appropriate program code, you should not have to enter this information. Please find your program code and this will assist you with getting a realistic estimate of your OSAP eligibility.

If a parent's marital status is divorced (not remarried or common law), then it is the custodial parent or the parent who the student who has last resided with full-time prior to starting full-time post-secondary studies, who completes the OSAP application.  The non-custodial parent is not required to complete the application.  If however, the non-custodial parent is providing support to the child, then the child must report this support as income on the income declaration section of the OSAP application.

If the custodial parent's marital status is technically and legally, common-law, then the common-law partner is required to complete Parent2 section of the application.  If the situation warrants a further review if the common-law partner is not supporting the student in any way, then the student should be referred to our website, under OSAP & Bursary Appeal Information, Step-Parent Appeal. With letters and supporting documentation, the student/parent(s) can request a review to remove the step-parent's information from the OSAP application.

When a student applies on-line and they select an out-of-province/country institution, they will be given instructions and directions to send all paperwork and documents to the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities in Thunder Bay - address and details will be provided to the student.  There is also information for out of Province and out of Country students to review on the OSAP website.

Students may request the grants they are eligible to receive and no loan funding. Simply complete and submit a Request for Grant Only Funding form. The form is located on the OSAP website. A request can be made to receive loan funding if the student later decides that they wish to receive their eligible loan funding.

Yes, that is correct.  Typically, students should update their income regularly. Some important times to do so would be a few weeks prior to receiving funding to allow any adjustments to aid to occur prior to the disbursement of funding and prior to the end of the term. In order to take full advantage of the Student Access Guarantee, students should update their income no later than mid-October. Income updates are necessary to avoid any overpayments prior to the start of the next academic year.

Yes, students should receive a fairly accurate estimate when they submit their OSAP application.  It is however, only an estimate and the estimate is based on unverified information.  If a student has any questions regarding their assessment after they have submitted their application, please contact the financial aid office at the school that you plan on attending.

No, lines of credit have no bearing on an OSAP assessment nor do they have access to this information.  However, a student's outstanding OSAP debt may have an impact on a student's eligibility to access a student line of credit.

Students should apply for OSAP on-line by June 30. Students should upload or submit their signature pages and supporting documentation to the Ministry's website or to the Student Awards & Financial Aid Office at the University of Windsor by July 15. Generally, signature pages and supporting documentation take 4 - 6 weeks to process. In order to ensure that funding is available for the start of classes in September, we must have all paperwork by July 15 to complete the OSAP application.

Students are encouraged to check their status online. Completed documentation will no longer appear outstanding. Please allow a minimum of 4 weeks for processing. Although your Signature & Declaration pages have been received by us, it will take us some time to update your file on the OSAP website so that you can see that they have processed. If it has been less than 4 weeks, please do not call our office. If it has been more than 4 weeks, please call us so that we can follow up.

Starting May 2018, students with a new Master Student Financial Aid Agreement (MSFAA) will be required to have their identity verified online and electronically sign and submit their loan documents. Information regarding the MSFAA process can be found on your OSAP account under the 'Required Documents' section of your OSAP application.

All students can now apply on-line for OSAP assistance even if there are restrictions preventing an assessment.  Before students apply, they will receive a message that indicates their application may not be assessed for a number of reason(s)....however, the application process can be completed and the restriction issues addressed subsequently.

Students can also find information on how to address OSAP restriction issues from our website.

Students will receive their OSAP funding by electronic funds transfer (EFT) provided they followed the necessary steps to set up their Master Student Financial Assistance Agreement form. If no banking information has been provided, a check will be sent to the student approximately 15 days after we have confirmed enrollment on the OSAP file.

• You must have an OSAP assessment calculated within 3 business days of the fee deadline date for the term.  View fee deadline dates here.
   
• Your pending OSAP funding will be applied to your student account as 'Anticipated Aid' and will reduce your balance owing to the University by the amount that is scheduled to be released for the term.  Your student account information (once tuition has been calculated for the term) can be viewed by logging in to UWinsite Student > Financial Account.
   
• If you have sufficient OSAP funding to cover your balance owing, then you do not have to make a further payment by the fee deadline date.
   
• If you do not have sufficient OSAP funding to cover your balance owing, then you will need to ensure that the remaining balance (fees less anticipated OSAP aid) is paid by the fee deadline date so that you do not incur interest charges.  After the fee deadline date, interest will accrue on any outstanding tuition balance.  Interest will be calculated accordingly on accounts where OSAP funding is applied as anticipated aid, after the fee deadline date.
   
• OSAP funding greater than your balance owing will be directed to the bank account that you set up with the National Student Loan Service Centre when you signed your Master Student Financial Assistance Agreement (MSFAA).  To request a change to your bank account information on file with the NSLSC, visit the NSLSC website.

 

You may call our office at (519) 253-3000, ext. 3300 to arrange for an appointment.

OSAP application deadlines and appeal deadlines can be found on the OSAP Website or on the SAFA main OSAP page.

If you need to make a change to your OSAP application after you have submitted it for processing, put your change in writing, sign and date your letter and include your student number, and upload it to the Ministry's website; or mail, fax or drop your changes off to the Student Awards & Financial Aid Office. You can also use one of our OSAP forms from our OSAP Processing Forms page to submit your changes.

Please visit the following page for information on Changes or Updates to your OSAP file.

The University of Windsor will work with the Ministry to confirm your enrolment electronically.

The Confirmation of Enrolment process  will commence at the end of  August for any student who has a completed OSAP assessment by mid-August (including all supporting documents required) and who is fully registered in their OSAP assessed course load.  For example, if you applied for OSAP for 100% of a full course load and you are only in 60%, we will not be able to confirm your enrolment until you are registered in at least 80% or full-time.

We will continue to confirm enrolment daily as OSAP applications and assessments process throughout the year.

Once the Student Awards & Financial Aid Office confirms a student's enrolment, it will take between 5 – 7 business days for the electronic funds transfer process to complete and for funds to be sent to your bank/student account. The transfer process will begin on the negotiable date posted on your OSAP account. If it has been over 7 days from the negotiable date as indicated on the OSAP website, and your funds have not been received, please contact the National Student Loan Service Centre at 1-888-815-4514.

If you are full-time and currently not eligible for funding, but had previous loans, your enrolment will be confirmed for the purpose of placing your previous loans in interest free status.

Please visit the 'Why has my OSAP account not been confirmed?' page to determine possible reasons why your enrolment would not be confirmed.  If none of the reasons apply, please contact the Student Awards & Financial Aid Office if you have not yet received the Confirmation of Enrolment email.

Students should carefully read and complete the Parent Income Verification: Canadian Non-Taxable and/or Foreign Income form located on the OSAP website. The documentation requirement for verification of income on spouses/parents not living in Canada is the documentation which would be the equivalent of Canada's CRA Notice of Assessment/income tax documentation. Students must endeavour to provide official documentation from their country of origin confirming the income reported or indicate their country does not have a tax system. Embassies and consulates can also confirm this information. Students who indicate the spouse has no income and provides official proof that their country has no tax system, will be reviewed on an individual basis. Students must also provide a detailed letter indicating how the daily needs of the spouse were met (on $0 income), or proof of full-time enrolment in school and the record of landing showing when the spouse came to Canada, if applicable.

In order that a program can be approved for funding through the Ontario Student Assistance Program, the institution must demonstrate and document that the program leads to a degree, diploma or certificate conferred by the institution AND that the program is eligible for operating grant funding by the Ministry Colleges and Universities. Programs that are considered full cost recovery programs or programs not eligible or not yet approved for operating grant funding are not OSAP eligible programs. For the purposes of OSAP, this means students are not eligible for OSAP funding or Continuation of Interest Free Status.

At this time, we have identified that the following programs are NOT OSAP eligible programs and therefore, students cannot be approved for OSAP funding and cannot be approved for Continuation of Interest-Free Status. However, for programs where the status is ‘currently under review’, once approved, these programs will most likely be OSAP eligible:

• ANY student registered in a NON-DEGREE program
• Faculty of Education Additional Qualification Courses
• Siemens Mechatronic Systems Certification Program

The following programs are considered full-cost recovery programs and are not OSAP eligible:

• Master of Management - International Accounting and Finance
• Master of Management - Manufacturing Management
• Master of Management - Logistics and Supply Chain Management
• Master of Management - Human Resources Management
• Master of Management – Data Analytics
• Master of Engineering - (Automotive Option)
• Master of Medical Biotechnology
• Master of Applied Computing- Qualifying Year
• Master of Applied Computing
• Master of Actuarial Science
• Master of Applied Economics and Policy (International)