Of food and financial assistance
That's the food allocation amount given to students by the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP), which prompted the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA) to run the food-budget campaign from March 8 to 26.
Nick Gibson, a participant
from Wilfrid Laurier
University, reflected on
the difficulties of maintaining
a nutritious diet
while on the restrictive
budget.
“When I really crunched
the numbers and the servings
according to the
Canadian Food Guide, I
was not even close (to
meeting the requirements),
and those were days that I
thought I was doing pretty
well,” he said.
While he managed to
meet some of his daily
requirements, Gibson
noted that there was definitely
a lack in important
food groups.
“My biggest problem by
far was fruits and vegetables.
For someone my age,
I need to get about eight
servings per day, and
oftentimes I was getting in
around four or less,” he
said.
Although the difficulties
of the diet were apparent,
it is a reality that Gibson
has become accustomed
to, as he is already reliant
on the student assistance
program to pay for his
schooling.
“I've been living like
this for a while, so it's sort
of ingrained into my soul.”
Making people aware of
what a student goes
through when living on
assistance is exactly what
the provincial student
association had in mind
with the campaign.
“Our goal ultimately
was to draw attention to a
lot of the problems of the
OSAP program and some
of the challenges that we
as students face,” said Dan
Moulton, president of
OUSA.
According to Moulton,
Gibson's experience was
quite similar to the other
students participating in
the campaign.
“It wasn't an easy experience
to live a healthy and
balanced lifestyle on so little
food and nutrition per
day,” he said.
Both Moulton and
Gibson believe that the
campaign was successful
in drawing attention to the
fact that the student assistance
food allowance,
among other aspects of the
system, are inadequate for
the student lifestyle.