Ontario’s Liberal critic for colleges and universities says the province should immediately restore OSAP funding for students attending legitimate private career colleges while police investigate allegations of misuse within the system.
Speaking on AM800’s Live and Local with guest host Steve Martin, Nepean MPP Tyler Watt said the controversy centres on a small number of schools, but thousands of students across Ontario are now facing uncertainty because of the province’s decision to pause OSAP payments sector-wide.
Watt said new information revealed this year showed OSAP spending at private career colleges nearly doubled to almost $1 billion, with $385 million flowing to just seven institutions now under investigation.
“These are a lot of millennials that are going back to school to get retrained to become PSWs, early childhood educators, paralegals. So these are legitimate accredited courses and programs. But it’s this handful that’s a concern, and because of that the government has blown up OSAP for everyone,” Watt said.
Watt’s comments come days after AM800 spoke with Windsor student Catherine O’Phee, a single mother of three attending Anderson College, who said she quit two jobs to return to school and is now in limbo after her previously approved OSAP funding was frozen.
He says many students are now facing impossible financial choices.
“This is impacting about 50,000 students across Ontario. This is such a callous decision that to me the only option is that the Ford government reverses this because we’ve got to help these people get through their school year,” Watt said.
Watt says students are being told to seek financing through banks, but he argues that private lenders is not a practical fix.
“Them going and applying to banks suddenly for a student loan, it’s not a realistic option. I have no idea what people’s credit history is, what their financial situation is, whether or not they will get approved,” he said.
The provincial government has said OSAP payments will remain paused while an audit is conducted and the OPP investigates potential fraud involving a number of private career colleges.
It has also said it is exploring interim financing options with financial institutions.