Post-secondary education is hard. After a Bachelor’s degree, a post-grad certificate, and now in the middle of a Master’s degree, I can tell you that the experience is grueling, exhausting, and can be some of the worst times in your life. But in today’s age, you need the credentials to enter the job market. Degree inflation is real, and employers are increasingly looking for advanced degrees for entry-level jobs. Graduating is difficult, and not everyone can get there. But first, you have to go through a booby-trapped maze to even get into university programs and afford the tuition (and cost of living) to get you through to the end.
Post-secondary education is becoming increasingly inaccessible because of rising tuition costs – and now inflation is making living more difficult. The policy framework around tuition costs is itself a whole topic, especially in Canada where universities are partially funded by the provinces, but the institutions themselves set their rates. And some university programs are not funded or fee-controlled – like the Rotman Commerce program at UofT – leading to exorbitant tuition costs. It’s no wonder why many – if not most – students are relying on student loans to pay for their education.
Around the world, debates are raging over student loans and their potentially predatory nature. In the United States, many individuals take years, even decades to pay off their student debt. And with COVID-19 obliterating jobs and incomes, no wonder there’s a lot of policy discussions around forgiving student debt or even relaxing interest rate payments. It gets even more complicated when you realize that student loans can come from both governments and private financial institutions with higher interest rates.
Canadian students are also struggling with student loans. Here, loans can come from both the federal and provincial governments. However, students apply through the provinces. In Ontario, students apply through the Ontario Student Assistance Program – better known as OSAP. But it feels like they make the process almost impossible. And that’s because it’s a maelstrom of policy decisions, process, and product – the student facing website where individuals apply for OSAP and manage their loans. That’s why it’s perfect to do a case study on OSAP!
So where do you start? I began by Googling “OSAP” and landed on a page I’ve screenshotted above. And this first page offers the most important options on first view. Without scrolling, you can login, register, learn about the OSAP process, and get the latest updates.
However, before you even start your OSAP application, you have to go through a whole registration process. It does make sense to go through all of this: privacy and consent is important, and registration makes you give explicit consent to share your information. It allows students to set their login information and give their SIN number for OSAP to look into your financial information. It’s a long process – and it was even more difficult years ago, when you had to wait for a PIN number to be physically mailed to you – but it makes sense to start here.
Once you finally login, you start on the “dashboard” which does a great job narrowing down the most important actions to take. There are only 6 main call-to-action buttons on this page (other than less important “more information” links):
- Apply for full-time
- Go to my full-time apps
- Apply for part-time
- Apply for micro-credentials
- Apply for interest free status
- Go to my 30% off apps
As a student, this focuses the page to what you actually need. This is an example of a good user interface. It’s simple and efficient. And the main “application” buttons are in dark blue, creating a contrast with the white background, which is important for accessibility – especially visually impaired individuals. And depending on your student status, there’s only one section that’s relevant to you. As a full-time student, all I need to focus on is creating a new application or viewing previous applications, and that’s all visible on first view. I can also access the “Message centre,” Account information, and get help at the top nav bar. While the user-facing interface is important, that is only one aspect of the user experience. As we enter the application process, we’ll see how policy affects the experience of students.
The first page layouts the entire process. It uses different colours and is enticing. Looks simple, right?
It gets more complicated going forward and it actually takes a much longer time than you’d think. If you’ve never completed an OSAP application before, you’ll have to go through many different pages to fill in your information. Most of this work is pretty routine. But there are some key information that you need to provide. Now that government processes are digitalized and online, you can choose to check your application online, or have OSAP send you PDFs of your forms to print yourself. But the questions in the “Additional information” section actually matter.
When it asks about when you graduated high school, it is asking whether you meet the threshold of being considered a “mature student,” which is 6+ years afterwards. If you fall before that threshold, the application considers the finances of your parents. As a mature student, only your annual income and assets. This is a policy choice: it can be a question of equity and whether the government should give you more financial support based on your socio-economic status. But it can get complicated. In many cases, it is supposed to ensure that students with rich parents don’t receive as much support than lower- to middle-class families. And if you are a “mature student,” especially early in your career, you may not have a lot of annual income, meaning the government can provide more funding. But what happens if your parents are well-off, but don’t provide any financial support? Another key question is why the Ontario government chose a 6 year threshold. In previous years, the threshold was 4 years. Changing the threshold can drastically change eligibility and funding levels.
Equity is increasingly becoming a priority. If you self-identify as Indigenous, Francophone, or a student with a disability, or were ever in the care of a Children’s Aid Society or Child and Family Services Agency, you may be eligible for other programs that would offer greater funding. This is also a policy choice: it involves our values as a society and shows that we care about those who are more disadvantaged.
The application then takes you through multiple sections with many different questions. This can get very overwhelming. However, these questions are all important to the process. So in this case, it’s the Product team’s job to make the application as little stressful as possible. Breaking up the questions into multiple pages really helps. Some fields are also hidden unless you click a certain option. And being able to save the application and leave for a bit is really important. It can be difficult to complete the application in one setting.
One thing that truly surprised me was the first time I tried to apply this year, I was asked to complete an information module. It is a short course, but it asks you to read information and answer a quiz about it. I can’t access the module now, so I don’t have any screenshots. It is important that students understand the OSAP process and how student loans work. However, it struck me how many of the questions were about finances, interest rates, and repayment. It made me question what the purpose was of this module. In some ways, it’s a good product – nice to interact with, good visuals, interactive method of teaching information. But it felt as if it was a lecture on how to manage your money properly. I came away feeling lectured and ashamed.
This is a policy choice made in recent years, aligning with the election of the Ford government in 2018. The government wants to impress on students that they have financial responsibilities and there are consequences to not being able to repay your student loans. It very much subscribes to conservative ideology that it is about personal responsibility and that it is a privilege for government to help you achieve your education. It feels more like managing a business rather than aspiring to higher learning so you can get your dream job.
The application process is not very simple. It can be difficult to go through and can create more barriers to post-secondary education. Student financial assistance should empower people and allow them to achieve their dreams, and that government has a role in that. But – putting aside the financial aspects – the application process itself can be a challenge. And, in the case of the information module, it can involve political ideology and leave you with a sour taste in your mouth.
But product management can help. The product team, thinking about the entire user experience, can breakdown the application to make it easier for students to apply for financial assistance. A good product with the right user experience can really improve the process. But the final lesson is that product is not the ultimate aspect: good product management in government can only go as far as the policy limits.