Changes to financial assistance for Ontario post-secondary students will officially take effect next month.
As of Aug. 1, the proportion of grants offered through the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) will be capped at a maximum of 25 per cent, down from 85 per cent previously.
The province is also lifting a seven-year tuition fee freeze, which will allow some colleges and universities to raise their fees by up to two per cent each year over the next three years.
When the province announced these changes, the government said it is committing $6.4 billion for the post-secondary sector over the next four years.
Premier Doug Ford had said these changes were made to protect post-secondary institutions, so the province wouldn’t have to shutter any colleges or universities.
“Folks, it was in the red, it was just not sustainable,” Ford said at Queen’s Park in February.
Students have expressed concerns over the combination of higher tuition and less grants, with some sharing how they won’t be able to afford to take on that debt. Others shared how they might not have even gone to university had they known they would lose their OSAP funding.
How will these upcoming changes to OSAP impact you? Have you considered deferring or dropping out of a program? What changes are you making in order to be able to afford your post-secondary education? We want to hear from you.
Share your story by emailing us at torontonews@bellmedia.ca with your name, general location and phone number in case we want to follow up. Your comments may be used in a future story.
