“It’s the mooooossssst wonderful tiiiiime of the yeeeaaarrrr…* *humming in the key of Z-flat* Yes folks , faster than you can say “OSAP”, we're back to school. I'm convinced some of us are in denial about summer's end, since I've…
Excuses in September…Tae Kwon Do in October
After a whirlwind summer of backpacking through Europe, sleeping on overnight trains, and pushing my body past its limits on grueling bike rides in the Italian Alps, I arrived at U of T slightly dreading the school year. I cringed…
True Blue – the search for school spirit
For the time that I have been a student at U of T, I’m sad to say that my blood has never bled blue for U of T’s Varsity Blues. School spirit is few and far between on our campus…
The Story of Willcocks Commons: a car-free pedestrian-only zone
It was a calm and breezy evening as I walked down St. George when something shiny caught my eye. I stopped near the hot dog stand and stared at the stretch of road between Sid Smith and Lash Miller. It…
“Can’t manage without …”
New School-year Resolution Le Deux. This year I will… 2. Manage my time better … Though I really, really don’t want to jinx myself, I usually do pretty well in school. And I should… after all, as any of you…
Bittersweet …
This is a bittersweet post of goodbyes and hellos. First the goodbyes ... Richard Bach reminds me "Don't be dismayed at goodbyes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetime, is certain…
Happy New Year!
I’ve always thought of the New Year starting in September. Maybe it’s to do with my cultural background (in Judaism, we celebrate the New Year in the fall... actually, right now). But I suspect it has more to do with…
Just text me!
Okay, so everyone anticipates university being expensive. Tuition costs can be found online, and you can also look up how much it’ll cost to live on or near campus. Of course, you’ll still have to mortgage your iPod and maybe set up a payment plan on your liver, but there’s comfort in knowing how much you have to pay. In fact, the costs associated with university are generally set, or slightly variable under your control—your phone plan, food, rent, are all chosen by you, at least to a degree. Your tuition, gym membership etc. are set, and also invariable, so they can be planned for.
This leaves the big unknown, the real outlier, the forever elusive… textbook costs. Sometimes, a class will have a course materials pack costing $20 flat (though there are the hidden costs of the copy store potentially being swarmed by cops and “busted”). Other times there will be a textbook for $175, or a whole bunch of books (and the prof always says the specific editions matter…) for a cumulative $250.
All totaled, textbooks can cost as much as $1000 in a given semester, or as little as $250, in my experience, and their prices are completely out of your control.
EXCEPT! Oh, happy day! As in all things money-related the market has worked its magic and ways to save money (with additional costs in the form of time, travel and inconvenience, unfortunately) have appeared over the years.
Frosh Prince of Bel-Air
Hello fresh, er Frosh student lifers, out there in the ether. As your first important bit of orientation info about life at U of T, you should know, never use Wikipedia as a source in any of your assignments. So,…
U of T’s Ivy envy
Hello friends and fellow U of T devotees. By the time this is posted, I will be far, far away, in a land not so different from ours geo-politically, nor in climate. They speak the same language there, and by…