CREDIT: HENRY YE/THE UBYSSEY0

WINDSOR (CUP) — Ontario's student financial aid service is going digital.

The Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) is, for the first time, transferring funds to postsecondary students electronically instead of requiring them to wait in long lines at their institution's financial aid office.

Marian Doll, director of Student Awards and Financial Aid at the University of Windsor, said this will afford administrators more time to help students.

"As opposed to going through the monotonous process of releasing loans every day, we'll be dealing more with students who have a problem that we have to deal with."

Doll said her office handles 130 to 150 requests from students per day regarding financial aid. Around 50 per cent of full-time students at the University of Windsor apply for OSAP annually.

Travis Reitsma, an English undergraduate student, said of the changes, "It's great that they're finally entering the 21st century. They should have been doing this for the last decade."

To accomplish this, OSAP has introduced the Master Financial Student Aid Agreement (MFSAA), a lifetime loan contract. As long as the student doesn't allow more than two years to elapse between full-time studies, the agreement will follow them to whatever institution they're attending, and even on to graduate or post-graduate studies.

Once the MFSAA has been processed, students continue to apply yearly for OSAP. The funds will transfer to the university when classes start, tuition will be deducted from that amount if the student has agreed to that, and any remaining amount will be transferred to the student.

Doll said she hopes that funds will reach students sooner as a result.

"That's the goal," she said. "If the system can support what (the financial aid office) needs to do in a very short time frame ... I'm going to say seven business days, which is a fairly conservative estimate, students should see the funds start to flow into their bank accounts without ever having to step foot in here."

Reitsma said he would like to see the government releasing funds before the school year begins to help students pay for their books and other necessary expenses. "I've gone into October - sometimes into late October - (before receiving OSAP funds). It's never reliable; you never know when you're going to get it."

Undergraduate Bailey McCoy agreed that some students need their OSAP right away.

"They could pay off their school a lot faster, get their living expenses done ... and just focus on their school work."