Students who attend CTS Canadian Career College in North Bay and Modern College of Hairstyling and Esthetics say they are deeply affected by the Ontario Student Assistance Program freeze. The province has paused payments to students because of concerns about possible criminal activity at some of the schools. But that has left students who rely on the payments in the lurch. Office administration student Hope Beaulieu was approved for OSAP when the school year began Sept. 21. “I’m fortunate enough that my husband has a job that we can cover rent and we can cover groceries,” Beaulieu said. “However, in the economy we live in, we know that a second income is vital.” Beaulieu has a 13-year-old daughter and a son living with autism and ADHD. OSAP helps students pay for tuition, books and equipment, school fees, living expenses and child-care. A pause in those payments leaves people like Gladys Rutland, who is studying to become a medical secretary, feeling stressed and anxious. “It’s like a domino ripple effect,” Rutland said. “We have financial obligations. Rent is already past due.” On Sept. 25, students at CTS were notified about a funding freeze, with a promise of a resolution the following week. Four days later, school administration informed them that meetings with OSAP stalled. “We were so taken aback,” Rutland said. “We were so appalled at what is ... going on.” The government later said it paused all OSAP funding as part of a career colleges audit. The Ontario Provincial Police is investigating after auditors identified “serious concerns” about possible criminal activity and “egregious” use of public money. The OPP said Wednesday it was reviewing the information. Data obtained by The Canadian Press through a freedom-of-information request showed that not long after those programs became eligible, OSAP usage at a small number of schools skyrocketed, to the point that just seven career colleges had the same amount of OSAP as all publicly funded colleges. Beaulieu said the funding pause will also deeply affect her classmates living on Ontario Works and ODSP. “When OSAP doesn’t show up, these people are now left with a crisis,” she said, fearing that the pause in payments will lead to more homelessness because people can’t pay their rent. “It’s a mess,” she said bluntly. Nolan Quinn, Minister of Colleges and Universities, said targeted inspections of career colleges were launched last year in response to growing concerns about OSAP usage. Earlier this year, citing “unsustainable” costs, the province overhauled OSAP, drastically cutting grants for universities and publicly funded colleges and putting a greater emphasis on loans for career colleges. “It is a necessary right-sizing of the sector where enrollment and OSAP usage had become out of control, especially for institutions that may have misused OSAP,” Quinn said. CTS student Alyssa Wilson is studying massage therapy in North Bay. Her OSAP funding was set to help pay for her books, tuition, living expenses, and childcare. Wilson started a petition demanding the province provide a “fair transition for students who had already applied for, been assessed for or been approved for OSAP” before the restriction took effect. “Despite already being enrolled and attending school, I am left without the funding I had been expecting and am struggling financially as a result,” she said. Going forward, all private career colleges will have to meet stricter criteria before regaining OSAP eligibility. Career Colleges Ontario, which had been warning the government about possible misuse of OSAP since 2023, said the government should be taking targeted action to address those concerns, not disrupting the education of students who have followed the rules. “This particular situation, it’s serious. It requires a scalpel, not a sledgehammer that they’re bringing to it,” MPP Tyler Watt, the Liberal critic for Training, Colleges & Universities and Long-Term Care, told reporters at Queen’s Park Wednesday. The association said that delays are causing significant disruption for schools, which have to make operational decisions without a clear timeline. In a letter to students obtained by CTV News, CTS Canadian Career College is urging students to contact their MPPs and outline how the OSAP freeze is affecting their education. In a statement issued Wednesday morning, CTS wrote that it’s urging the ministry to create an expedited application and review process so students are not left waiting unnecessarily for funding they believed would be there for them. “Protecting public funds and protecting students should not be competing objectives,” said Jason Portugues, the school’s vice-president. “Students who followed the process, enrolled in approved programs and relied on approved funding should not be the ones left carrying the consequences of a broader system-wide decision.” The school said it fully supports the ministry investigating any concerns about OSAP misuse, stating the “integrity of the program is important.” “At the same time, we believe students who enrolled in good faith at compliant institutions and relied on funding that had already been approved need to be protected throughout that process,” Portugues said. In the interim, the government is in talks with banks about options for low-interest loans for career college students. “Private loans are not a realistic solution for everyone,” Wilson said. “Not every student will qualify, and many of us would never have started our programs if we had known our approved OSAP funding could suddenly become unavailable.” For students who can’t wait, they worry they can’t afford to ride out the wave and remain in class. “Everybody is in crisis in some sort of way, and everybody’s reason for feeling the way they feel about it is valid,” Beaulieu said.
