Students Devasted By OSAP Pause

In its effort to address concerns involving certain private career colleges, the province has cast an indiscriminate net over established, legitimate private colleges and universities, leaving thousands of innocent students without the OSAP funding they depend on. These are students attending recognized institutions that have operated under provincial oversight for decades, with zero OSAP compliance issues. Now, six weeks into their academic semester, students who have done absolutely nothing wrong are being denied the financial assistance they were counting on to pay their tuition, rent, groceries, and support their families. They are being forced to bear the consequences of problems they did not create.

Protecting taxpayers from bad actors should never come at the expense of innocent students. The government has every right to investigate institutions that abuse the system, but it must distinguish between those institutions and legitimate, established private degree-granting colleges and universities.

We are calling on Premier Doug Ford, the Minister of Colleges and Universities, and every Member of Provincial Parliament to act immediately to restore OSAP funding to eligible students at compliant institutions. These students have been left out in the cold, and they cannot afford to wait any longer. We urge every student, parent, alumnus, educator, and concerned citizen to raise their voice and demand a fair and immediate resolution.