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Prabhuji
Architectural Labourer
Canada Sucks

Thanks for your very encouraging reply.
I do think construction management is a very good field. Before I switched to it, I had many friends who were in it. There are many opportunites that goes with it.
Of cos you will get a good job. It isnt a menial kind of work which we have to do if we stay in architecture. Also after few years of experience you can be a consultant. Along with your job construction managers can build without a general contractor. That is very encouraging. Most of the big projects you will need to be a general contractor but many residential,renovations, a construcion manager with workers can do. So as an architect that kind of independent work which we thought we missed by coming to the west can be fulfilled!
Finally if you are into academics, you can do Phd while you are working. constrcution management is in baby stage still in research. You get so many grants. As masters in conman itself is getting popular from last decade. So Phd and research has a high mention!!!
When you apply please do look for job opportunities/placements, internships/kind of companies associated with the school,kind of research happening in the department. I am sure you can do very well!!

PS: the vet has 2 kids!!!

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Prabhuji
Architectural Labourer
Canada Sucks

Thanks Anand ,

Ur inputs are highly appreciated and I m sure will b a boost to the Prospective Immigrants .

Manasvi.

Hello Dips,
I am in the Biomedical Engineering line.

there are over 1400 views of this thread but only 32 replies(33 counting this). Looks like Canada is so bad that people really can't find too many positive thing s about it.
I wonder how many replies would be posted if the thread was about bad things in Canada. A quadrillion?
Or maybe it's the human psyche to mention things that are "bummers" and not the good things.
I remember I did some telemarketing one summer. Out of 60-80 calls a day, maybe 2-3 were bad, maybe I did 2-3 sales in those 60-80 calls and the rest were bland- but somehow the thing that sticks in my mind are the 2-3 rough responses I got a day. All the good calls and I assure you there were more of those in a day than the bad ones, but I cannot recall any of them, but the bad calls, I can recount them to you even today.

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May 31, 2005. 06:54 AM

>ADVERTISEMENT<


GTA COLUMNISTS

> Jim Coyle

> Rosie Dimanno

> Joe Fiorito

> Christopher Hume

> Royson James



Cash boost for loan plan
Loan criteria less stringent, grants are reinstated
Students eligible for more money; less to be repaid


LOUISE BROWN
EDUCATION REPORTER

At 17, Sherry Wang dreams of becoming a management mogul, but she's not sure she can manage the cost of business school.

The Scarborough Grade 12 student with the 85 per cent average has been accepted into management studies this fall at the University of Toronto. But with her parents getting divorced, her father back in China and her mother on long-term disability, the Agincourt Collegiate student is nervous about borrowing nearly $5,000 for tuition and $3,000 more for books and supplies.

But Queen's Park may have just thrown her a lifeline.

As thousands of Ontario students start applying this month for government aid for higher learning, Wang hopes she'll be one of 16,000 expected to qualify for a new grant that need not be paid back.

It is the first time in more than a decade that Ontario is offering grants to students in need. It's part of the biggest boost to student aid since the Ontario Student Assistance Program was launched in 1978.

In its budget on May 11, the McGuinty government pledged $6.2 billion more for higher learning over the next five years, including $358 million more for student aid.

Between higher weekly payments and lower payback requirements, less onus on parents to chip in and more loans for middle-class families, 135,000 students are expected to benefit from the improvements to financial aid.

The new dollars kick in right away, starting with $192 million more this fall, a windfall that may help low-income students like Sherry.

"I'll apply for the new loans this week, but I hope I get the new grant. My mother only earns about $20,000 on disability and I'm very worried about the interest you have to pay when you borrow for four years," she said.

Mary Anne Chambers, Ontario's minister of training, colleges and universities, said some principals in her Scarborough riding tell her many bright teens rule out post-secondary learning because they assume it's beyond their budget.

"We can't afford to let that happen. What's the point of improving the quality of post-secondary education in Ontario if some of our brightest young people can't afford to take advantage of it?" Chambers said in an interview yesterday.

"We really need to ensure that where (academic) merit is a given, (economic) need is addressed."

The Toronto Star has prepared a reader's guide to the fine print of Ontario's new OSAP rules:

Don't-pay-a-cent plan

If you're heading for first year at an Ontario college or university and your family earns less than $35,595 per year and has no more than three children, you could qualify for a first-year grant of up to $6,000, or the full cost of tuition — whichever is less — shared by Queen's Park and the federal government. The average undergraduate tuition is about $4,230.

This "Millennium-Ontario Access Grant" is geared to the same families who qualify for the federal government's National Child Benefit Supplement. The government expects about 16,000 Ontario students to qualify.

With every extra child in the family, the qualifying income threshold climbs, so that a family with nine children would qualify with an income of less than $61,492.

Here's how it would work.

Under the old rules, low-income students living at home and attending university or college were eligible for up to $7,300 a year in loans for tuition and books, of which they would have to repay $7,000.

Under the new rules, low-income students living at home and attending university or college may qualify for a tuition grant of nearly $5,000, which would not have to be repaid; they would also be eligible for a loan of about $3,000 more for books and supplies, which they must repay.

Students apply for this new grant through the regular OSAP form available on the website http://osap.gov.on.ca.


Half-price deal

Second-year students from families earning less than about $35,000 a year will be eligible for a new grant of up to $3,000 or half the cost of tuition — whichever is less — from the Ontario government.

This money will be granted automatically through the OSAP application.

More money each week

This year, a single undergraduate student can qualify for a weekly loan limit of up to $350, compared to last year's maximum of $275.

Both Ottawa and Queen's Park contribute to Ontario students' financial aid, and both governments are hiking their weekly loan limit for the first time in a decade.

Ottawa's share is rising to $210 per week from $165, and Ontario's share will climb to $140 per week from $110.

Students receive these loans for the 34-week period that corresponds to most academic years.

Less heat on parents

In a bid to help more middle-income students qualify for loans, Ontario is reducing the amount it expects parents to contribute to tuition by as much as 46 per cent.

Same payback deal

Despite higher loan amounts, Ontario students will be required to pay back no more than $7,000 per year.

Tech support

For the first time, students can use up to $500 of their student loan to pay computer costs. Under the old rules, students could only use loan money for books and supplies, excluding computers.

Interest relief

The provincial government has raised by 5 per cent the income level needed to be temporarily excused from making payments on a loan — for up to five years — because of financial difficulty.

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