Soon to be University student needing financial advice!?

Well I am really not sure how it works in Canada but in the states we have finacial aid through the government. If that is an option in Canada go for it.
Another route would be applying for students loans through banks
But definately focus on schoold and try and get a schoarship
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110319200317AAuosNE

okay, let me break up your question, so I can give you a decent answer.

Your in grade 11 now… so you have some time to prepare.

If you really want to live in residence, pick a university more thqn 40 km away from your parent’s house. That way you get a small more funding for living.

OSAP will expect you to have a part time job in the 16 weeks right before you start school. They calculate what resources they expect from you and the parents based on you having this job and contributing at least $ 3,000 towards your tuition and living costs while at school. You can question that this be reviewed but you have to prove that you applied for at least 10 jobs and were not able to find work (and you must supply names and contact info for people at the companies you applied to) Its a pain in the butt. Or you have to prove you were too sick to work, or in jail, or training for the Olympics. Not simple. So start now with a summer job to maximize your chances for a job next summer when you are really going to need it.

Scholarships – excellent thought. Depending on how many people in the family and how many kids are in post secondary, OSAP may choose that your parents cannot contribute to your education. Also depending on their combined incomes, you may be eligible for a couple of grants. You cannot apply for them – OSAP decides based on the info you give on the attention.

Time to repay – your loan enters its repayment period 6 months after you end school. Then you have 9 1/2 years to pay off the loan.

Lets say, just as an example, you are going to school for 4 years and you are going to apply for OSAP every year.
Year 1 – you get the max loan, $ 12,240. you are successful in year 1. You were truthful about your income and have kept your loan in excellent standing. As a result you get the Ontario Student Opportunity Grant, which means that the government pays part of your loan and you have to repay $ 7300 of the 12240.

Years 2,3 and 4 – same as year 1. yYou end your 4 year apprentice degree with a debt of 29,200

You do not have to start paying until 6 months after you end year 4. That supposes that you don’t skip a year. You need to be back at school before the 6 months is up — so for instance if you end year 1 in May and choose that you are going to take some time off and not start year 2 til January, you will have been out of school 7 months and you would be into your repayment period (unless you did something about it)

You will be paying about $ 290/month for 9 1/2 years on the debt.

So now you say you want to be a lawyer – specifically a ‘prosecutor’ — in Canada there is no such thing. They are called “Crown Attorneys” and the money is not as excellent as other kinds of legal practice. In any case, if you want to be a lawyer, you are not done your education yet. You now have to attend law school. You can get OSAP for that as well, and if you are getting OSAP you can defer your loans from your BA to the end of your law school. But you will probably more than double your debt.

If you go to this american website http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loanpayments.phtml you can plug in your debt and get some fascinating info. For instance, if I say that your debt at the end of law school is $ 45,000 and you are paying 4.5% interest, this website says that your payments will be about $ 470/month and you will need an annual income of about $ 56,000 to service that debt. Thqt may give you an thought whether or not you can carry that debt. Also remember that that means you can’t have any other debts – no credit cards or store credit cards, like Zellers or Canadian Tire.

If you seriously want to be a lawyer, then you need to get to know some lawyers. For you the perfect summer job might be working in a lawyer’s office. Or maybe a summer job in the court system. Or the police station. Any job like that is going to expose you to people who are already in the business you want to get into — remember, it’s not what you know – it’s who you know.

You have the next nearly 2 years to get some stuff happening. Try to make an appointment with a Crown. Treat it like a school project. Question them questions, find out what they did to get through school. Question them what school they went to, what school they would recommend. Sometimes its hard to get into law school — then if you already know someone who went to that school, maybe you can get a letter of sanction. Support from alumni go a long way towards getting you into a school if the seats for first year students are limited. While you are going through school, try to find work in a lawyers office or legal clinic.

But you can make a decent salary as a lawyer, more in urban areas than in rural. This website gives you some thought of pay http://www.wowjobs.ca/salary-crown+counsel.

Excellent luck!

OSAP does not require you to have a job before they give you money. You do not pay it back until after you graduate. Payments start 6 months after you graduate. Most universities/colleges have in rank on how to access financial help to continue your education. Best of luck and hang in there.Education is the answer.