Living in Ontario, going to be receiving ei benifits, have paid into for 7 years, wondering if they would pay?

Question

for schooling ex. college, university, anyone have a story on how to achieve this?

Answer 1

You need to get approved before you go to or are accepted into the program.  There will be an agency in your area that will work with the Skill Development side of EI to see if you qualify to received funding for school.  Keep in mind if you do not qualify for funding to go to school through EI, and still choose to go to school, it can be tricky.  While going to school you may not be "ready, able and willing" to accept a job whuch is what EI requires.  (if you are not funded)

To be accepted for schooling to be paid for EI, you need to prove to them that the skills you have will be enhanced by the training to make you more "marketable" as a job applicant.  You need to find examples of jobs (eg on Job Bank) that show something is lacking in your training that would have possibly landed you those jobs.  For example, jobs in your area which are for office work require you to know Office 2007, but you have never taken an office course.  Taking that course may give you the edge over other appplicant.  Conversely, getting a bachelor of Arts will not necessarily gain you the same position.

Sometimes, you need to show there is a lack in your area of the type of skills you will have if you take this course.  You can use your local labour market information to show this.

Basically you are building a case to say "there is the need" and this will make me better able to land that job and get off EI once I am done.  There is some paperwork as well, that the agency will help you with.

One thing to keep in mind as well, is that if your course goes from September to April, during the summer months you are expected to look for work.  IF you are lucky to find a great job in that interim and are planning to go back to school, it can be very tricky.  If you were able to get that job, EI will view it as you are no longer needing to complete the course since you now have a job.  Quitting a job to go to school (even back to a course you are 1/2 way through) is not "just cause" for EI in most cases.

You mentioned paying into EI for 7 years.  That has no bearing on being able to get funding for EI training.  You could have lost your job after 25 years, but if you are not approved for the course, it will not matter.  You can also have the bare minimum for getting on EI, and be okay as long as the course is approved.  They are just looking to see if you qualify for EI (and are on it or have been ain a certain amount of year prior) and if the schooling you want to take will get you back into the world of the employed.

Contact your local Service Canada to see which places can help prepare your "case" for going back to school.