It's Assistance, not Affluence

March 11

Breakfast – same as yesterday - $0.85
Snack – FREE coffee, 4 homemade cookies, 3 figs - $0.82
Lunch – PB&J, apple, carrot - $0.71
Dinner – Tin of sardines ($0.79), brown rice with butter, onions, mushrooms and curry powder ($0.40), salad $1 = $2.19
TOTAL = $4.57!

A banner day. No muffin and a FREE coffee. I also found that I was overestimating lunch costs by about $1, but that's good! I'll just leave my previously posted amounts alone though, and not correct them because I'm being cocky about being under budget. I'm going to work on posting a link to a spreadsheet (thanks for the spreadsheet idea, A) so that my costs and math are transparent to you without it taking up so much blog space.

Sarah and Rach (I can call her Rach because her blog told me I can) were both under budget because both are under the weather and have lower appetites. Hurray! (for the costs, that is. Get well soon.) Andrew pulled a crazy 17-hour day – a typical Wednesday for him – but has been getting through his busy schedule by making enough pasta to last him several days. I'm liking the cut of his jib. Nick continues to fall behind, but he requires an entirely new paragraph.

Nick's self-intro reveals a guy active on campus in several avenues. Summer was hard on him financially, so he came into the academic year starved for funding. He got a whack of it from OSAP and spent it on the important stuff that they give you OSAP for, plus "extraneous fees" (hmmm...) and has been so involved with his campus duties that he can't get a part-time job. Strapped for cash, he spends his money EVERY DAY on pizza in any shape or form he can get it – pizza slice, pizza pop, frozen pizza...if Pizza Hut makes a breakfast cereal, you can bet this guy's eating it. So I scratch my head when I read his posts. Does anyone else find it hilarious that OUSA apparently chose someone with a money management problem to take a money management challenge? In my opinion, he should drop one of his extra-curricular activities in favour of a tiny job, $50 a week maybe, if for nothing else but to cater to his pizza compulsions and my blog. Better yet, he should take a lesson from me – that $50 each week dropped into a food budget would allow him to do a hell of a lot of sinning. For $75/week he could incorporate other kinds of sin too. All I want now is for him to graduate so he can get a job and pay more taxes to offset the OHIP costs for treating his future heart disease and impacted colon.

A Word to Students on OSAP

The real reality is that post-secondary education isn't free, and OSAP isn't supposed to make it so (though "free" post-secondary education universally available regardless of socioeconomic class is something I'd like to see one day). OSAP isn't supposed to bring you above the poverty line. The A in OSAP is for Assistance not Affluence. It's a government loan lent because we (which includes you the student) wanted to invest in an education that'll hopefully allow you to enter the workforce as a skilled, productive citizen who will make enough money to contribute positively to the economy and the welfare of your fellow citizens. The taxpayer loans money to you and asks that you spend it wisely, so that there will be a good return on the investment. This investment is risky for some citizens, who barely make enough to live on and have little mouths to feed, and you on Assistance are accountable to them. If school is forcing you to eat pizza and drink beer all the time, use your own money. We all - including the government - understand that some of the Assistance in actuality does go toward these "luxuries" (heck, mine did) – but don't act like you deserve it. And don't complain if the government won't shell for it. You want fun? Find your own means to make it. The taxpayers have done their part. Do yours.