Students can now apply for tuition rebate
Posted Jan 5, 2012 02:06:45 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Some 300,000 university and college students in Ontario are finally getting a break when it comes to tuition.
Full-time students can now apply to get a 30 per cent rebate on their yearly tuition, meaning students at Carleton University and University of Ottawa will be able to get up to $1,600 per year.
“It’s a significant saving,” said Ottawa Centre MPP Yasir Naqvi. “For example for this semester, university students will save $800. College students will save about $360.”
He said the grant will help keep students in Ontario.
“We’ve been hearing a lot from families, from parents, from students, who are saying that this is a significant saving, $16,000 a year is a very significant relief for the families, so I think more and more families will consider sending their children to universities and colleges right here in Ontario, as opposed to any other province.”
But some students, like Carleton’s Sarah Hooper are worried that part-time and mature students are getting the short end of the stick.
“I know that a lot of students have been left out of the grant that we were promised in October,” she said. “My brother, he’s in the exact same situation as me, but he’s a part-time student and he works three jobs to pay for his tuition and to take care of the debt load that he’s taken on.”
“I feel like they’re being left out in the cold a little bit,” she added. “I’m lucky that I get it and I get the $800, but I know that he can use it just as much as I do.”
Naqvi said there are other options for part-time and mature students, like OSAP.
Students who already receive OSAP automatically get the grant, while those who do not, can apply for it.
In order for a full-time student to be eligible for the grant, their parent’s gross income must be equal to or less than $160,000.
The deadline to apply for this semester’s rebate is March 31st.
