Living off 12,000/year is possible although it is difficult because many expenses are slashed. College students receive 11,000/year for schooling that is about half the tuition of university. I can't seem to justify how you pay 3,000 less and get almost the same amount of funding as a university student.
Also, if your parents are that horribly controlling maybe you should do something about it instead of whining about how they act. Seriously parents may not be that educated about certain things thus bringing them to the conclusion their way is the only right way. I mean if living with them were so bad, you could leave, and their would be a paper trail of that. Going into the financial aid office and whining about how controlling your parents are is no proof that things are actually that bad.
I also do know that since OSAP is funding my tuition there is not going to be a transfer of that funding to parents. I pay for it, I will claim it on my taxes. If your parents pay your tuition they deserve every right to claim that as income, not you.
I'm amazed at the plethora of students who clearly haven't seen poverty. OSAP is a meager living, but if your parents are giving you money to pay for school, or make a decent living you are not living a life of poverty. Clearly no one reads their loan documents before signing either because you are considered independent after being out of highschool for 4 years.
Student loans are geared towards low and mid income families:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quoti...60324c-eng.htm
Higher incomed families and home owners are likely to have savings for post-secondary school, which value more than any other category:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/75-001-...4/6987-eng.htm
Students from high income families with post-secondary education are more likely to obtain a post-secondary education:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11f0019...005243-eng.pdf
Post secondary educated families are still at a higher net income after all debts are taken into consideration:
http://www40.statcan.gc.ca/l01/cst01/famil114-eng.htm
There are many factors determining whether one would pursue post-secondary education, some being your highschool experience, family, social influences, parental status, and parental education:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/81-595-...003006-eng.pdf
There are so many statistics that show that there are many who are a lot LESS fortunate than you think.