After a little research I have realized what is going on thanks to Carleton U, whose Graduate Student Association is on the ball. Apparently the government increased the number of OGS awards from 2000 to 3000 this year and subsequently the 5,000$ most Ontario university departments offer incoming students to 'top up' their OGS awards are being clawed back, as there are more OGS winners this year to compensate. Only departments are not informing students of this. Carleton has begun a letter writing campaign and petition. I can not see that either Queen's nor the SPGS is supporting its own students in a similar way. I only found out my internal funding top up to my OGS was being revoked in a curt email after I took the initiative to inquire about the status of my internal funding. It is six weeks to the beginning of term and the blatant neglect of informing students of the status of their funding is unacceptable. It is common practice that universities top up OGS scholarships in order to be competitive in terms of funding and it is my view many graduate students will be arriving on campus this September unaware of the drastic reduction to their own funds. More students need to be made aware of this and we need to speak out. I for one will be writing a letter to the head of my department. Check out the GSA website at Carleton for more information.
