There are several different types of aid programs and understanding the differences will help you to understand OSAP better:
It is important to understand the time period in which the aid is provided. Some aid is provided up front. This is usually money that you receive to help pay for your education-related costs, for example, a loan. Other aid is provided at the back end. This is usually used to pay down your debt load (you don’t get any money in hand), for example, interest relief. For a complete list of types of aid programs within OSAP, go to Go to the A-Z List of Aid and search by type.
You may also wish to learn about whether or not your aid is taxable.
A grant or bursary is an amount of money you receive to help finance your education that you typically do not have to pay back. The only time you would have to repay it is if your application is reassessed and we determine that you were overpaid. A grant or bursary is usually awarded based on financial need and other factors. In the case of OSAP, grants and bursaries are needs-based, which means only those students who have demonstrated financial need may receive aid.
A scholarship is money you receive that helps finance your education that you typically do not have to pay back. It is usually awarded based on academic merit and other factors. Generally, scholarships or fellowships do not have to be repaid.
A work study program helps students meet their education-related costs by providing part-time work at their school.
A loan is money that you borrow. It is a type of debt. In OSAP’s case, you are borrowing the money from the governments of Canada and/or Ontario and they secure the debt on your behalf (otherwise you would have to secure the loan by pledging your assets). You must pay back the loan plus any interest on the debt. In the case of student loans the interest accrued while you are in school is paid by the federal and provincial governments. For anyone who completes their studies on or after August 1, 2010 the Province of Ontario will pay the interest on your Ontario student loans during the six month grace period immediately following the end of your studies. Once the grace period ends, students are responsible for paying the interest on both their Ontario and Canada student loans. You agree to the terms and conditions of the loan when you sign your Loan Agreement with OSAP.
Repayment assistance is available for students who are no longer in school and are having trouble repaying their loans. Currently there are two streams for repayment assistance, one for the Canada portion of your Canada Ontario Integrated Student Loan, and one for the Ontario portion. Canada repayment assistance is known as the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP). RAP guarantees that a borrower’s debt will be retired within 15 years from leaving school and entering repayment. There are two stages of the Repayment Assistance Plan – Interest Relief and Debt Reduction. Ontario currently offers repayment assistance in the form of Interest Relief, Debt Reduction in Repayment, and Revision of Terms. By the fall of 2010–2011, the Ontario government expects to implement a new Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) on the Ontario portion of the Canada Ontario Integrated Student Loan. This program will be similar to and will align with the federal government’s RAP program and will replace the current provincial Interest Relief and Debt Reduction in Repayment programs. Repayment Assistance money is not provided directly to you. It is sent to your lender (in most cases that will be the National Student Loans Service Centre) to pay down your loan and/or pay the interest on your behalf. It is a needs-based program, which means only those students who have demonstrated financial need may receive aid.