Hi Everyone!

My name is Hisham Ata. I have a Bachelors of Commerce in Business Technology Management from Ryerson University and I am currently going to school for Video Game Design and Development. Currently I have 3 semesters left, totaling to about 13,000 dollars in tuition fees and I have been barred from taking any additional loans because of an issue with my previous OSAP (Ontario Student Assistant Program) application.

The reason I went back to school is that even though I had a good job out of University, it was definitely not something that I was passionate about. I saw myself in 20 years not enjoying the work I was doing, and hating that I would have to go into work. I spoke to my fiancee about this and she advised me to get into something I really wanted to do, to go back to school, even if it ended up postponing our marriage for a bit.

For the previous 3 semesters of my program, OSAP had given me approximately 8,000 dollars worth of student loans, but I had estimated my income for the year of 2014 incorrectly and they required me to pay 5000 dollars before I can receive any further loans. This had happened once before in 2007-2008 when I was in university but OSAP waives the issue if it happens once, but if it happens a second time, they bar you from getting any further funding. However, I started the program in July 2014, and earlier in the year I had paid OSAP 5,800 dollars on my previous University student loan. This was pretty much everything I earned at the time, with the extra going to help my parents and maybe a little bit for me and my fiancee to go out to dinner every now and then. This is more than enough to cover the discrepancy but they do not seem to be accepting it even though it was during the year in which my earnings were slightly misrepresented.

I would ask my parents for help, but they themselves are struggling to pay the mortgage for our house and I don't want to be a burden to them. I have heard great things about this site and would like to see if I can get some help through this time from some kind strangers!