Annual Report 2005-2006 - Osgoode Hall Law School - York ...

Student Financial Services Office (SFSO)
• Administered Osgoode’s first Early Bursary Notification Program to admitted students. The SFSO
redesigned its Financial Statement previously used to determine financial need for entrance
scholarships, to be used in identifying students who could be notified in advance of likely bursary
awards. In its first year, 1,326 applicants completed this Statement and, after six rounds of early bursary
notification, 114 bursaries were assigned to students offered admission. Ultimately, all students who
ultimately registered at Osgoode and received early bursary notification received an actual bursary
equal to or greater than the notification amount.
• Supported the final research for and review of draft of the Working Group on Student Financial
Assistance, the final report of which was presented to Faculty Council in February, 2006. This report
provided significant information and recommendations about Osgoode’s Financial Services Programs.
• Following the submission of the report to Council, the Director was charged with implementing the
various recommendations, both in the short-term and longer-term. One such change involved important
revisions to the Online Bursary Application, a process which was begun in 2005-06.
• Negotiated three very positive changes with the Royal Bank to our Special Line of Credit Program for
Osgoode students:
— RBC will now extend a total of $55,000 to our students for their three years of law school and one
year of articling, without individual negotiations on the part of the students. If a student is in good
credit standing and has no OSAP debt to date they will receive the full $55,000. Current OSAP debt
is subtracted off the $55,000 total available.
— Effective immediately, all students in good standing on their Royal Bank Student Line of Credit will
have the “interest only “ period on the loans extended to 12 months, increased from the previous
six-month period. This valuable change also applied to existing Student Royal Credit Lines not yet
under repayment. The positive change most importantly will give all Osgoode students more
breathing space once graduating from Law School.
— Rescheduling of the timing of the letters that are sent to Osgoode students requiring confirmation
of enrolment. Letters will now be sent in September, a much better time when students will have
their sessional cards in hand.
• After not being able to host one for a couple of years, the SFSO hosted an Upper- Year Financial Seminar
in March 2006, in addition to the very important First-Year Financial Seminar run annually at the time of
Orientation. The seminar, given by RBC, served a very important purpose in communicating to students
about how to manage their debt repayment and plan their finances once they graduate from Law School.
• Successfully found alternate sources of funding for students, despite a significantly reduced Emergency
Funds base. Toward the end of the year, we were able to make arrangements to improve this base for
future years.
• Engaged in numerous discussions with Central Administration regarding the new provincial
government’s Student Access Guarantee.
Programs and Records Office (PRO)
a. Programs, Including International Opportunities
• Increased participation by Osgoode students in the 2nd year of Osgoode’s involvement with the LSSSE,
reaching 58.05 per cent in 2006, up from 51.6 per cent participation in 2005. Following Osgoode’s
introductory participation in 2005, four other Canadian law schools participated in 2006 (UNB, UBC,
Queen’s and Windsor).
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