Going to school, need advice!

[Freebie_Fanatic]

Hello everyone, I am going to be going to school this fall for a three year program, and I just wondered if anyone with a similar experience has any advise for minimizing expenses. I have a 2 year old daughter who will be in daycare (800/m) rent (1200/m) phone, hydro, heat, etc, etc...My program is full time, and I am not able to work...I find myself wondering how anyone has ever survived this before...I am used to cheap country living......
Please help! any advise at all would be greatly appreciated!

[ahatt]

My DH is returning to school in the fall full-time, so it will only be me working full-time and he will only be working part-time. We've had to cut back on a lot of areas, here are some suggestions:

-Cable: if you have cable right now, call your provider and see if you can downgrade your package. we had the VIP package with Rogers plus an HD cable box, we downgraded to basic cable and got rid of the HD box and are saving over $30/mth.

-Internet: downgrade your package, this could save you approx $10 or more a month which adds up to $120+/year.

-Cellphone: if you have one, see if you can get a better plan that will reduce your monthly bill.

-Airmiles/Aeroplan: shop at Rexall when they have their bonus airmiles, save them up and redeem for gas or grocery giftcards. I believe they also have pre-paid credit cards you can redeem for, which you should be able to use to pay your phone bill or other monthly bills like groceries, etc (some utilities like hydro, heat don't accept credit cards).

-Trading: hold an auction on SC to get multiple items from your wishlist. Lots of people will have an auction for say a $10 GC, in return for the highest value of items from your wishlist. You could also join a few VWT trains, and get more from your wishlist, so that wil help reduce your grocery bill.

Hope that helps!

[brunt]

I worked through 11 years of post secondary school and three degrees.

Nobody says that you have to finish a three year program in three years. My Bachelors took five, which is how Waterloo has made all of their co-op programs. You will also have summers off for work, unless you are accelerating your program by going to school in summer as well.

Cut cable. It is too expensive, you don't need it, and it is no good for you. If it is gone already, then good for you.

Ditch your land line phone. I was paying almost $50 per month before making any long distance calls - outrageous. I now use a 7-eleven prepaid phone that costs $100 per year. This give 400 minutes - it boggles my mind why people need more time on the phone than this per year. I actually have well over half of my minutes left over when I am done my year.

Have you checked out OSAP (for Ontario) or the equivalent for your province/territory? There are grants available. This didn't work for me as by their rules I was always considered a dependent of my parents (who did not/could not pay for my schooling). Clearly this will not be an issue for you since you have a child.

Ask at your school about any bursaries that they may have available. Again, this didn't help me, but there were buckets available at the time for students who were married or who had children. Never know until you ask.

It was a rough go for me, but definitely worth the effort in the long haul.

Good luck, and I wish you the best!

[Freebie_Fanatic]

Thank you so much for your help, I really do appreciate any advice at all from someone who has a little experience with this sort of thing. Ahatt, I will take your advice on the GC's...I had no idea you could exchange airmiles like that! And brunt, I do not have cable, and never will...its an awful waste of time. We get three local channels, one which happens to be TVO, so no need for anything else. I think I will drop the land line as suggested, and I will take your advise and apply for every grant/scholarship/bursary for next year!
Biotech, here I come!

[Shwa Girl]

My advice may/may not be helpful as you are already accepted/paid.

Online university is a great option.
No daycare costs - homework when daughter sleeps/naps. Pay a neighbourhood teen to take care of daughter while you are home and lock yourself in a room to study. You save ~$650/month.

Pay as you go - you take a minimum number of courses per year. I took two semesters per year and worked like crazy the last semester of the year, and saved enough for tuition for the upcoming semester.

Online schools are accredited nationally - www.athabascau.ca
Alberta. My boss graduated from there.

You can work part time or full time - I am doing both (yikes)
If you work, and pass your probation time, your employer may give you money for courses or bursary/scholarship. From my grocery store p/t job, I can get 500-5000 scholarship every 2 years.

Good luck in your studies!
Don't forget all the tuition perks at income tax time.
Take advantage of all the student discounts - bulk barn, SPC card, transit, student rates on memberships, any freebie your school offers, microsoft software discounts, ebooks etc.

[dagney]

Having worked at a high school for 26 years, my advise is .... make sure the program u are taking actually has a good salary. We have students taking a two year "early childhood certificate" or "teacher aide course". Schools can and do hire people without any qualifications! Plus you will only work 5 - 7 hours a day and no pay during the summer then only under 200 days a year of pay!
Rule of thumb for borrowing money to go to school is - you should be able to earn in ONE YEAR enough money to pay off your student loan.
My pet peeve is if "assistant" courses - you can not earn enough to live off of many these 2 year courses.

[rclayton1]

I just finished another college program myself and it was a bumpy road here are some tips:

1) Take Brunt's Advice. I dont know who this is but I wish I would have had their advice.
2) Check into childcare subsidies- I ended up having my daughter's full time daycare hours paid for by my local municipality as I was a single mom in school.
3) While you are in school it may be best to downsize to a cheaper all inclusive apartment- (also you are unable to write off hydro and water on your taxes-but you can get back a portion on your rent alone) My daughter and I were only home in the evenings so we shared a bedroom.
4) Of course coupon- I have been couponing for years-it really does save money.
5) Your school will have a food bank as well as budgeting tips.
6) I understand you wont be able to work- but a way I earned some grocery money was put on ad on kijiji for babysitting-my daughter and I played with the little girl I watched, the two would tire each other out be in bed for 7:30pm and I had the rest of the night to do homework while still get paid. Sometimes I would waive the fee and ask the other mom to barter/switch days if I knew an assignment was coming up- I would take her daughter during the week , and she would take my daughter for a few hours on Saturday- this can work with laundry too-
7) OSAP- there is a grant (that you dont have to apply for-they just review you every year) that aids in bringing down the cost of the money you have to pay back. I have had my overall loan see about $8000 off for a three year period. Example how it works a loan of over $7000 but under $10000-only pay back $7000 of it. My recent loan was $12,000 and something I will only be paying back $10,000 of it.
8) Number way to save money is to truly know what you want to go to school for- I have two diplomas and half a unversity degree- I am thankful I dont owe an unreasonable amount considering I spent alot of time trying to figure out what kind of career I would like to pursue.
9) Above Brute mentioned buckets of money for students with dependents-your financial aid office at school will be able to assist you.
10) Cut the cable completely- I can private message you some links I use to watch all my favorite shows- my friends and I also share an itunes account where we take turns buying the episodes. Even if you only have a personal one $20 a month for your show rather than $100 cable package is better.
11) You can have a job when your are school full time- become a note taker or tutor for the class- I did this on spares in between classes- it helped me retain my class information better, build bonds with fellow classmates, and earn money doing it - talk to your school about these opportunites.

You will get through this!

[Shwa Girl]

I just finished another college program myself and it was a bumpy road here are some tips:

5) Your school will have a food bank as well as budgeting tips.
6) but a way I earned some grocery money was put on ad on kijiji for babysitting. Sometimes I would waive the fee and ask the other mom to barter/switch days if I knew an assignment was coming up- this can work with laundry too-
11) You can have a job when your are school full time- become a note taker or tutor for the class- I did this on spares in between classes- it helped me retain my class information better, build bonds with fellow classmates, and earn money doing it - talk to your school about these opportunites.

Great ideas.
Didn't know about the note taker job.
Glad schools have food banks -- a lot of need among student
Barter babysitting - great idea.

[rclayton1]

"Glad schools have food banks -- a lot of need among student"

Sorry Im not familar with using the quote on here.

Food banks depend on the institution you are attending: our local college has a points system though - you get 30 points for your trip in - 3 points for kraft dinner, 2 for the good pasta sauce, 1 for pasta, 0 points for milk, bread, hygiene products. I have only had to use the food bank twice- once at college and once at the university- my university gave me a $25 gift card to the grocery store. It really depends on the school and the need.

Some schools even have an emergency funding bursary that can allow the student to receive $500. When filing out my OSAP for I forgot to factor in the extra month for the one semester-that month was awful I ended up cracking my tooth, and my textbook that would be used for the last three weeks was stolen- I received a $500 I did not have to pay back from my fiancial aid off/student administrative affairs-however, the amount is taxable.

I was lucky to find many of my text books in the school library- I went to school for a law related program- and the textbooks were always being revised. A good friend was in another section of english class-to save money we split the cost of an english book and shared it.

I hope it helps. I suggest you check out Debt Free Graduate- it came out in like 2004/2005 its a green coloured paperback- they have some really great tips in there for students.

[nothingfancy]

11) You can have a job when your are school full time- become a note taker or tutor for the class- I did this on spares in between classes- it helped me retain my class information better, build bonds with fellow classmates, and earn money doing it - talk to your school about these opportunites.

I would check with the school first. I was a note-taker in college and the way I got paid was with GC's that could only be redeemed at the college bookstore.

Definitely try tutoring. I made pretty good money tutoring in college. It could sometimes be difficult, especially with people's different learning styles, but it was really rewarding.

[Shwa Girl]

"Glad schools have food banks -- a lot of need among student"

Sorry Im not familar with using the quote on here.

Click on the "Quote" tab at the bottom of the post you are interested in.
You can repeat the whole quote or a part of the quote.
If you repeat a part of the quote, inside the " [/QUOTE]" at the beginning or the end.

Thanks for your insite about food banks.

I graduated in 2005. I worked at a grocery store throughout. The large grocery stores let students take the school year off, but at my store, students must work at holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter) and must be available during the summer.

One student was forced out of her home during the final year (family problems). The student admin. person in our faculty was able to give her two week emergency residence on campus, two weeks worth of cafeteria food, a gift card to a grocery store and a list of apartments nearby. Her OSAP was adjusted to include the emergency apartment rent for the rest of the semester, with the faculty's input.

[Ciel]

That monthly rent seems high-must be for a multi-bedroom unit or a townhouse unit. Is it possible to move in with a house-owing friend to save on utilities and monthly rent? Would that impact any financial aid requests that you have made?

If you are going to college or university, there are usually students jobs during the semester in various departments on campus. There could be a deadline to apply prior to the start of the particular semester-postings could be through the student union website or the main HR site. Such a post would give you about 15h/week of work. Work program may be skewed towards students who are under 25 yr of age, for which wage subsidy programs may be available to college/uni employers. But look at all openings and apply to the ones you want.

College/campus might also have some kind of used goods program for which students provide still useful small appliances or clothing or small furniture that other students can use. But they are rare.

Have you also looked into any non-profit service clubs that do scholarships or bursaries in your geographic area or Canada-wide or industry-specific?

[brunt]

One other thought - does your school have daycare?

Sorry, I have no idea - it's been a while since I graduated. But it might be something to look into.

[aoffman]

I agree with what Brunt said, just because the program is X number of years, doesn't mean kill yourself trying to go fulltime. I made this mistake my first year back to school as a single mother and it was HELL. Part-time was much easier for my sanity, my children and it would allow you to pick up some sort of job if you wanted.

Definitely look into provincial and federal programs that will assist. The government loves to help single mothers get a better education. =)

[roseofblack25]

I am doing part time and sure I could go full time. I know it's taking me twice as long to finish but I can at least work full time and have almost 0 debt. I had to apply for OSAP for this next year though because I lost my job and am currently unemployed. I am hoping to find another full time job soon so I can get away from OSAP since I don't want to have any debt when I graduate but it's very hard to find work where I live. I am thinking of moving somewhere else to get a decent job and that will increase my expenses because I will be completely alone. It totally sucks but hopefully it works out...I really wish school was cheaper though!