Rye’s hellish OSAP lines about to get worse
By Danielle Adams
Last Friday, Karl Harper had a bad day.
The first-year Public Administration student had waited outside the Kerr Hall OSAP office for an hour and a half. He said all he wanted to tell the OSAP officer was, “Gimme my papers.”
Students like Harper are caught in a pinch between long, depressing lineups and financial need. And if you think things are bad now, just wait.
OSAP administration officer Karen Takenaka says budget cuts are to blame. The shrinking staff can’t keep up with an increasing work load. Applications for student assistance have nearly doubled in the last five years.
Meanwhile, this year the office had to lay off one of their five full time staff because of funding cuts. Now there are only four people to handle all appeals, telephone inquiries and administration of the OSAP program from about 7,000 Ryerson students in financial need.
Takenaka says not much can be done about the long lines. “You can’t expect to increase work loads and have decreased staffing to do it without this kind of repercussion. It takes longer to do everything.”
When students reach the front of the line, after wasting a good part of their morning, they are rarely sympathetic.
Harper said he was tired and annoyed.
“There’s nothing really to be said because you know more people should be [working in the office]. Either the funding is getting cut, or they have another excuse, so you just have to live with it,” said Harper.
Last year about seven thousand students applied for OSAP. That’s a huge jump from the four thousand applications received in the 1990-91 school year. Takenaka says the numbers will be even bigger this year.
“We can try to streamline, restructure and do things differently, but ultimately you’re still dealing with the staff we have, the potential for a [further] cut and an increased number of students applying.” Takenaka said. “I definitely think we need more staffing.
But hiring more staff is unlikely with Ryerson’s financial woes.
Friday was the second time Karl Harper had to wait in line. The first time, he lined up at 7:30 a.m. and waited until 9 a.m., only to find out that his file was going to be reassessed. Harper’s two visits add up to three long hours spent lined up counting the wall bricks in the Kerr Hall corridor.
Takenaka says the student services budget is likely to shrink even more next years.
Eliminating certain programs may be the only option for next year. Takenaka says OSAP staff can’t really shrink any further, so budget cuts would mean work-study. Short-term loans and bursary programs for students might have to be axes, too.
“Cutbacks? I know they’ll be coming—I mean, the writing is on the wall. I know that our office and all other areas of the university to do with student services are going to directly feel that cutback,” said Takenaka.
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