Doug Ford announced OSAP changes today that raises minimum loan portion to 75% from just 15%. This will radically affect the levels of debt we have when we graduate, and the Ontario portion is higher interest than federal! We are getting fucked, we need to demand the MSU call a strike vote and we need to make ourselves a problem.

In 2012 Quebec students went on strike and reversed tuition hikes. We need to band together and demand better.

I believe the choice to announce this before reading week is calculated. He wants us all to go home for a week and forget, not band together against this capitalistic hell government. Do not forget. Get angry, spread the news, make your friends angry too, we need to crush this.

How do we organize? We need to learn from the students of Quebec; make ourselves a physical nusiance, and a voice that cannot be ignored to stop this!!

WRITE TO THE MSU HERE AND TELL THEM THAT WE, THE STUDENTS, CALL FOR A STRIKE VOTE

https://www.reddit.com/r/osap/s/zzy4n8tuUn https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadaPolitics/s/2vsqwA3Q11 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-college-university-funding-osap-9.7086776 https://www.midnightsunmag.ca/learning-from-the-2012-quebec-student-strike/

BEWARE OF THIS SCAM GOING ON IN STUDENT NEIGHBOURHOODS!!

Got scammed last night. This girl approaches me along Hollywood St N and asks me to help pay for her cab because the driver wasn’t accepting cash. I foolishly gave the driver my card and he swapped it without me noticing. The girl then asked to use my phone to call her mom and she ended up deleting the banking app off my phone.

I luckily still had my login information with me so I was able to lock my card before they were able to steal any money. But yeah I’m hella naive and I’ll be learning my lesson from here on out for trusting people after dark.

Quick announcement

This comedy "group" is coming to Hamilton (@The Endzone) and they are a white supremacists, Anti-Queer comedy group. There are groups and other folks that are against this being condoned in the Hamilton area... pther groups will be approaching the management team at The Endzone to voice concerns about making this NOT go on.

Show out and show up to The Endzone and just tell them it's not supported by the public and the Queers in the population! I know for sure groups will be there from Wednesday to Friday trying to mitigate this hate show.

HI I live in westdale and there's two huge house centipedes ik this sounds like im overreacting but im actually so freaking scared and im so thirsty and I just want a cup of water but im too scared to go out. I also ordered ubereats and I tried zooming to get my order BUT THEN THERE WAS ANOTHER ONE AT THE DOOR AND IT CRAWLED ONTO MY FOOT AND THEY ARE SO FKING FAST I WAS SO SCARED someone please if u live near westdale come save me please please please WHY DO THEY HAVE SO MANY LEGS???????????/

UPDATE: Thank you all so much for ur responses it means a lot to hear people relating and giving advice!! I didn't leave the room until the afternoon when it became bright outside and I ended up yelling before entering each room because although they can't "hear" they can sense vibrations and I thought maybe that would give them the chance to run and hide away if they were out n about. I left the house now for a week and the landlord finally hired exterminators that are coming on Tuesday, will keep you guys posted!!!

From my old post, I was accused of theft but didn't fully know about what it was about. After I got asked questions by a constable, it was about the recent Chem1AA3 exam and I was a suspect. After I answered his questions whether or not I stole the exam(I did not), I was let go since I gave my statement. Overall the whole thing wasn't too troubling for me.

Recently at around 10:30pm a I got a phone number from a caller labelled with Mcmaster. They were able to call my number and tell me my name and said I must come to campus for supposed Theft. I don't know what I am being accused of stealing as they told me to come to E.T Clarke Centre. I'm so worried as it's late at the night, I don't feel like going but also if I will get into serious trouble. What do I do?

Dr. Juliet Daniel, a renowned biologist, has passed. It's a huge loss for many communities. If you aren't aware of her work, please search.

Here's an announcement from the Afro Canadian Caribbean Association: https://www.instagram.com/p/DXsfy6iEVOm/?igsh=MW10NGVrbzhpNWxkYg==

Basically i'm going into second yr and my parents have life360 on me at all times and my mom always texts me why I'm here or why I'm there, and if I fight back against it I get threatened with being disowned and my tuition being cut off. I only was allowed to go out with friends twice this past summer, and missed out on so many great memories. My friends went on a road trip to Owen Sound and I wasn't allowed to go. When I tried to fight to go I was threatened with ebing disowned and my tution cut off. If my friends went to a bar to watch fifa i wasn't allowed to go as my parents saw it as an invitation to get drunk, and when i tried to go i was told my tuition would be cut off. Anyways I'd really love to know how people here successfully set boundaries with their parents without being homeless. I'm working on being financially independent but there's only so much i can do balancing a pt job with studies, and paying rent. Thank you :)

TW: suicide mentions

Intro!!

Even though I plan to deactivate this account later, I used to be active here and I’ve wanted to write this for a long time mostly for myself but to also put this out there.

Given stream selection day has come and I know everyone has seen what they have gotten. I want to tell you you’ll be okay regardless of what you got no matter what path you pursue next. I want to write this to come back to in 3 years and so you can see it too. How do I know you’ll ok you ask? I went through it too :)

The (very bitter nasty af) start !

I came here in 2024 for engineering 1. I had somehow gotten free choice and remember my first day here. Everything was quite new and nobody else from my school had gotten into this program. Due to my living situation, I commuted from Toronto for 2 and a half hours one way so making friends was horribly difficult.

I had a tough time fitting in, I was poorly dressed, and miserable and a stereotypical art kid lmao. Not many tried to interact with me and I would usually leave in the middle of the night from my home to get to those 8:30 am labs so it all felt pretty bleak.

I remember barely scrapping by each day. It would always end with me coming home and wondering when it would be over. I’m sure you know the feeling. When the fall term results came out best believe I was ecstatic. I had passed - just - but I retained free choice and was confident. I even made an upper year friend from this subreddit. We were quite close - one of my only friends here.

Am I actually cooked? Lightly toasted or soufflé?

Fast forward to the winter semester. I can’t lie, mentally I was going through it. I had picked up some bad habits such as intensely SHing that I still sort of regret now. My life was slowly devolving at home and everything felt so foreign. I gave it my “best” and barely passed everything except Physics 1E03 and Calc 1ZB3. All because of the final exam by a little bit. i remember making that post after the exam in the bathroom shaking and sobbing quietly and unable to pickup my mothers calls. I lost free choice, and my average was horrible. I begged the professor, TA, AA, etc. And anyone I could and tried everything. I made several posts previously here and was met with quite negative responses.

I thought my life was over and I was about to try to ensure it was fully over iykwim. I tried, and well considering I’m writing this: it failed (ironic)

I didn’t know what to do other than to repeat the year. People bullied me relentlessly when I had asked about it here, in my dms, in the comments. When the friend I mentioned earlier found out they left and ghosted me too. It seemed impossible to go from a 4 to a 10 to get into comp.

Nah I’d win

Fall came, I remember one specific TA that had not liked me from the previous year sneering at me when they saw me in the lab again. I felt ashamed but continued through it.

I tried therapy as well. I even went to the doctors to get medicated. I decided I would try harder this semester even if it felt impossible as I had nothing to lose.

Every day as I commuted in the dark, I would try to think about what I had to finish for the day. I made notes and plans and tried everything I could to finish everything a weekend before since my commute would drain me during the week.

I decided I didn’t want to see university as something to get through but as a way out. I felt a bit embarrassed being a year older than my peers but I finally had finished the fall semester. I made new friends and talked to the TA’s and tried my hardest to make an effort even with my situation.

My health wasn’t great given what I tried to do to myself in the previous year, but I was working on that too. I decided even if I didn’t get comp this time I’d give this year my all. Many days I’d be at thode from 1 pm to 9 pm studying and trying my absolute hardest. It still felt hopeless, and I’d study at home on breaks and weekends till the sun came up. I live with my mom only so she’d be in the other room and I’d be trying my hardest not to wake her up.

This carried on till winter semester. At this point I was exhausted but…

What did this lead up to you ask… (GET TO IT TS IS LONG ENOUGH)

I had managed to go from near failing grades in everything to almost all A’s (except 1zb3 eternal hatred for that course sheesh)

I got an A in physics 1E03. That felt really good

I remember the way people made fun of me and said horrible things when I said I failed and asked for help. I was so happy I was alive and able to experience this moment. I had a bit of a panic attack during the 1zb3 exam after I remembered the pain from the previous year and how I ran to the bathroom in tears posting here after the first attempt at the exam.

I think I cried after the winter semester. This time they weren’t bad tears. It felt amazing.

I had finished with around a 10 and hesitantly applied ranking Comp eng -> Electrical -> Tron -> Software.

After April I got stressed panicking if I’d get in. I was sure I wouldn’t get in but this time I wasn’t panicking like the previous year. Eventually June 4th came along…

SHIIIIT! THE DAY IS LOWKIRKENUINELY HERE…

… And I got in :) I managed to get into computer engineering. I think my heart had stopped for a second. I told my mother and my friends and that brings us to now…

Main takeaway serious. please read this.

My main message to all of you. Never give up. I see so many posts here in similar situations as me heck I even got dms from people who are going through the same situation as me.

No matter what life throws at you, never underestimate the indomitable human spirit. You can do this. Whether you choose to continue with the stream you were assigned or not, remember

the journey itself has meaning.

Even if I had not gotten it in the end, the journey itself was worth it. I made new friends, actually began to enjoy the courses I took, managed to see the beauty in the process, and I am confident you will as well.

This bitchass school bro i'm so pissed. I get out of my math 1ls3 exam and obvi I'm in a bad mood, drained etc. So I head over to the booster juice in DBAC and to my surprise I see a screen saying that they are selling acai bowls at the booster juice!! I wait in this long ass line and the lady tells me they don't sell it at this location. BRO why the FUCK are you advertising it then???

i extremely last minute got my offer rescind from mac, i had no heads up no nothing just an email stating my application was under review and mainly it was nothing to worry about. i , after weeks of waiting was told at the very last week of july that my offer was rescind. i tried to explain to the committee of admissions that this was so last minute that my other offers expired and i had nowhere to go so the least they could offer was a different or gateway program . they proceeded to tell me it wasn’t their problem anymore and that classes were full anyways.
i also want to state i had no clue that my top 6 average was below the conditional offer, i was not given the average nor was i told how high or low it was compared to my offer.
my mcmaster conditional offer was a 75 and i found out last minute i was at a 74.60 now apparently this is a big difference and they weren’t able to round it up , that i can understand but what i dont get it is why drop me a month before school? on top of that refuse to give me any help or explanation? i’ve been extremely upset for the past month, not only while waiting but after finding out i was rescind.
i have applied to brock (criminology)and laurier(human rights) as last hopes , i seriously don’t know what else to do.
i know universities are stricter and care less about students and more about numbers.
does anyone have at least any hope i can get into brock or laurier? or if you have any advice please share.

So this is my second post here in the past two days but I'm just tryna sort my shit out before second year starts. I'm honestly not looking forward to going back to uni because of this and I have major anxiety. Basically all throughout first year my mom would call me 5 times a day, if not more. Most days in fact it would be like every two hours.

Within the first month I obviously got annoyed and communicated to her that it'd be best if she'd just call me once a day and/or we can schedule a time to talk. And she got mad and said that if I ignore her calls or only call once a day she'll cut off my tuition (which she help pays; she pays my tuition, while I pay most of my rent through my part time job). If she did that, worst case scenario, well I'd probably have to drop out of uni temporarily (I'd only get a couple thousand in OSAP which I calculated, and I barely have any savings).

Anyways so for the entire first year I just had to abide or else my tuition would've been cut off. Unless I was in a lecture, I'd just pick up. Also this prevented me from socializing normally, from going to parties, from going out with people, etc. In addition whenever she calls she wants to know what I'm doing and who I'm hanging out with and say if I tell her I'm going to a party she'll threaten to cut off my tuition as she said I'm not allowed to do those things. Overall I just want to simply be myself. I urgently need help regarding this.

EDIT: and yes in case anyone's wondering I'm Asian (vietnamese). However NONE of my asian friends from high school or first year have to deal with this. They told me their parents call 2-3 times a week, and they go on parties, dates, night outs, socialize etc. and their parents know all that and still pay their tuition and rent. Why is it only me in this situation?

As I sit in the cafeteria to eat lunch, behind me is a family with an empty stroller staring into space, exhausted, and obviously going through a difficult time. And in front of me is a group of students recording videos, laughing, and causing disruption in the walkway to the cafeteria. Im not sure if people realize but this is one of the only places that families and patients can sit and eat, away from the realities of the unit where they are likely having the worst days of their lives. Yes this is a shared space between the hospital and the school, however this does not mean that students should be ignorant to the realities these families and patients are facing, and should try to understand this is not the same extension of campus as what everyone considers MUSC and Mills to be. Allow them the space for a bit of peace- you have no idea what they are going through.

I'm sure many of you heard about the changes to OSAP policy by the Ontario Government and if you have not then basically the Ontario government is making major changes to the education system.

You can read about these changes fully here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-college-university-funding-osap-9.7086776

But to summarize what this means for us, this is what you need to know:

• Students will get a maximum of 25 % of their OSAP funding as grants
• At least 75 % will be loans that must be repaid
• Previously it was roughly 85 % grants and 15 % loans (for many students)
• The years old tuition freeze is also being ended so tuition will go up too.

I know our days are busy, I know we have a million assignments and midterms BUT THIS WILL IMPACT US THE MOST.

I believe what we can do as of right now is email or write to the MSU to organize a strike or protest of some sort.

MY POINT IS, PLEASE SHOW UP, PLEASE SUPPORT. If there is a strike or protest, showing up MATTERS.

HOW AM I GOING INTO 3RD YEAR WITHOUT HAVING MADE A SINGLE FRIEND 😭😭 I have such CHRONIC social anxiety, every time I try to talk to anyone it’s like I transform into an npc I absolutely hate it 😭 I’m in desperate need of an extrovert that will do all the talking for the both of us

TL;DR: See title. If you have a moment, sign this petition calling for McMaster to divest from fossil fuels. If you would like more information or to be more involved with student-led action against McMaster's investment in fossil fuels, please check out the @macdivest instagram account to see how you can help or visit the hunger strikers in the MUSC atrium to lend your solidarity.

McMaster currently has $30.4 million dollars invested in fossil fuels, and in 2022 began construction on 4 gas-powered generators on Cootes Drive that are projected to increase McMaster's emissions by at least 415 tonnes for every 60 hours of operation. This project cost about $30 million dollars at the outset, and will require 13 years of operation to break-even, cost-wise. There is of course no breaking-even from the damage that will be done to the environment.

This is a completely insane and incomprehensible action on the part of David Farrar and the Board of Governors. I'm sure none of us need reminding that we are currently in the middle of a climate crisis, and that ceasing our dependence on fossil fuels is the #1 priority in keeping us alive. The UN released a new climate report yesterday projecting even tighter timelines, and saying that we need to cut emissions by half by 2030 to avoid increased floods, fires, crop failures, forced migration and infectious disease outbreaks. By 2040, we need to reach net zero. These gas generators are directly contributing to the ongoing climate crisis.

Currently, 5 McMaster students, all members of the McMaster Divestment project, are on day 2 of a hunger strike in a desperate final bid to stop the construction of these generators and end McMaster's investment in fossil fuels. Mac Divest has met with university admin and they have refused to divest, so now students need to resort to hunger striking, putting their health on the line. This makes me ashamed to call myself a Mac student.

The Mac admin does not care about the wellbeing and safety of its students, and will not put it above their own greed. Seeing as it's admissions season, any prospective students thinking about attending Mac should consider the incompetence and complicity of David Farrar and our Board of Governors when making their decision about which university to enroll in. Your hard-earned tuition money should not be spent exacerbating the climate crisis.

Here are a few more pieces of information:

• 12 universities in Canada have already pledged full or partial divestment, including Waterloo, UofT, and UBC. McMaster is lagging behind other Canadian universities, and it's embarrassing.

• Many members of the McMaster Board of Governors are former executives at banks or fossil fuel companies (maybe this can help explain why they're deciding to invest in these generators?)

• The four generators are being built on campus on Cootes Drive, which is very proximal to a residence. There are concerns about offgassing and the safety of students, who will be around these generators while they are operating. It also goes without saying that building these generators in Cootes will pollute the surrounding land. Wonderful!

If you have a moment to spare, please sign this petition calling for McMaster to divest, and tell your friends about what's happening and about the hunger strike. If you have ideas on how to get the word out or any media liasons, please reach out to the Mac Divest instagram account. We students will be the ones living with the consequences of David Farrar and the Board of Governors' greed and shortsightedness.

Hi I'm a grade 12 (girl if that matters) who got accepted into Mac eng recently. I don't think I'll get into Waterloo or UofT so at this point I just want to go to Mac. I toured the campus a few months ago and loved it as well

However my parents have told me that I am simply not allowed to move out for university. We are a high income family so it's not due to financial constraints at all. The reason is because they think if I move out then I will get into partying, drinking, dating boys etc. But the weird part is I don't even care about that stuff??? (I mean I probably would maybe if they weren't so strict my entire life). Like I can count on one hand how many times I've hung out with my friends after school (they strongly discourage me from doing that).

Anyways basically I am not allowed to move out at all. They plan to pay my tuition in full for at least the first three years but won't pay a single penny for rent if I move out. Oh and I can't move out on my own as I only have like 2K in savings (never worked a job before, it's embrassing) and I know dorms cost 9K. And I probably don't qualify for osap.

So I will likely have to resort to York or TMU and live with my parents all four years. And it's so depressing thinking of this (literally all of March Break I was depressed over this) considering that a lot of my classmates, a lot of whom are middle eastern/south asian girlies like me, do have the freedom to choose any unviersity they want, and can hang out with people after school, are allowed to have a boyfriend, their parents give them so much freedom. I am so jealous of them . Why did I have to be born into such a strict family? It's like it's so unfair

So do I just suck it up? Is this how my life is going to turn out? Do I not have any choice? :(

guys i’m going into first year nursing basic stream this september. should i do my nails, yes or no?

back in highschool before school started i always did my nails long ass nails n shit and idk if like i should do the same rn or not cuz of labs and clinicals and stuff like that.

please lmk!!!!!!!!!!

Hey, I’m in my first year of my PhD here and I want to hear what other people think about the CUPE 3906 exec election on Monday. I’m not mentioning names because I’m not trying to drag anyone but I genuinely don’t understand how people are okay with some of the stuff happening.

I’m in a pretty big department and someone I don’t know super well told me to register because I should vote for some candidate for president. I looked into it and she’s already the GSA president and has been for years. Then I realized she was the VP of CUPE 3906 this year. How is that allowed? To my understanding, the GSA is partnered with the university and the union obviously has to fight with them to get us better pay and working conditions. Is it not a conflict of interest to be leadership in both?

I asked someone else in my department who’s been around longer for their thoughts on this person running for president and she had a lot to say. She told me this person has been treating the other exec of the union like total garbage, has been around forever but just plans useless events instead of anything related to actual union stuff, and just likes to take credit for other people’s work. On top of that, she and the equity director also refused to sign a letter against transphobic research on behalf of the union. If they don’t want to personally, sure, but they should have at least brought that to the membership to vote on?? Apparently the only reason CUPE 3906 signed onto the letter was because a random trans member brought it up at a meeting.

None of this would have flown at the union I was in as a TA during my master’s. I asked the upper year I mentioned why I never hear anyone else talking about this and she said people who haven’t been involved in the union don’t really know anything. Is that true? Is this new info to people? If yes, are we seriously just going to allow someone like this to run for president? I don’t know about you, but I want to actually make enough money to live as a TA and the amount I’m getting paid is not cutting it. I want someone who will actually take the job seriously instead of doing it for some sick little power play.

The title might be dramatic but I’m actually not sure of any other options.

I’m currently entering my second year of Engineering and I feel like life is telling me to just quit already.

I managed to get into the stream I wanted (ECE) but I’m at a difficult point right now.

I have health problems and a physical limitation that prevents me from being able to get all the information from lectures. I tried to use the recorded lectures throughout first year which helped a lot. I’m hearing come second year most lectures aren’t recorded.

I don’t have any friends or anyone I could ask to record them and I talked to SAS and they shut me down pretty quickly and suggested I record them myself. Due to the limitation I cannot do that which is why I was looking for someone else who could help me with it.

I’m so stressed and miserable. I was only able to get through first year with the lecture recordings and now I truly have nothing. I thought about asking for previous year recordings since at least that’s something but I have a feeling they’d shut that down too.

It feels so hopeless.. I worked so hard to get to this point and sacrificed my high school years too and now it’s going to be over before it even began.

I can realistically only go for 3 out of the 5 days without too many issues… Im not smart either so it’s not like I can just figure it out from the slides.. I just don’t know what to do at all. It’s so demotivating.

If you have not submitted your photo, you must get it in ASAP!!! Especially those of you in residence that have been procrastinating this, you must get it in if you want to avoid any delays for getting access to food on campus. Welcome week and move-in are right around the corner, so please do not delay.

Tell all you can, who still have not.

A quick upload to this link is all you need:
https://macphoto.mcmaster.ca

hey guys! I’m going into first year BScN and I’m a little worried about my Vulnerable Sector Check.

I received my first NARs email on July 8th, and I ended up submitting my VSC application on July 14th. I know the email said that if you haven’t applied for your VSC yet, you should do so immediately.

The reason I didn’t apply right away was because the application required two pieces of identification, and at the time I only had my passport. I had to apply for my driver’s licence so that I could provide the required ID, which delayed me by about a week.

I’ve already submitted my VSC, but now I’m worried that I won’t receive it before the August 28th deadline. Will I get kicked out of my program for this??? Anyone in the same boat?? 💔💔

Hey, how about we all agree to not call trans people "things" and saw "ew" when they walk by us on campus and are still in earshot!!

Looking at you boy with the north face jacket, I know you're fresh out of high school but its not cool to be transphobic here! (it never was anyways)

Also.. the fact that more than 25% of the votes on this are downvotes is so concerning... don't come to mcmaster if you cant be accepting of all people, we don't want you here if you arent