Students and union members are protesting at Queen’s Park to speak out against the government’s changes to student assistance.
“I rely almost entirely on OSAP, and with these changes, if they go through in the fall, I’m considering not finishing my degree,” one student told CP24 at the protest. “I can’t afford to take on that much debt and not have a guarantee of a job after graduation. It doesn’t matter what program you’re in.”
Other students said they might not have gone to university had they known the funding formula would switch.
The latest rally is being organized by the Canadian Federation of Students Ontario, CUPE Ontario and OPSEU.
In February the Ford government announced that it would be boosting funding to post-secondary institutions by $6.4 billion over four years, while also slashing a tuition freeze that had been in place for seven years.
The government also said that it would be shifting most assistance through OSAP to loans instead of grants, with students receiving a maximum of 25 per cent of OSAP funding as grants, starting in the fall.
The proportion of assistance currently handed out as grants is about 85 per cent, and the government says that is “unsustainable.”
The change switches back to a ratio that was in place until it was changed in the final months of the Wynne government.
“We’re listening to the auditor general,” Minister of Colleges and Universities Nolan Quinn told reporters Tuesday. “In 2017 it was clearly articulated that the changes to OSAP were unsustainable, and we’re feeling that effect, both from the growth of career colleges, but the growth as well, just across OSAP in general.”
But NDP Leader Marit Stiles called the government’s argument about sustainability “rich” and said it’s a matter of priorities.
“Their government is funding a luxury spa in downtown Toronto that nobody asked for, a fantasy tunnel under the 401 and now a fantasy island convention center. Are you kidding me?” Stile said.
Earlier this month, another large rally was held at Queen’s Park over the changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP). During that protest, two people were arrested after a statue of George Brown was defaced with expletives scrawled in red spray paint and markers.
That prompted officials at Queen’s Park to wrap the statues in anticipation of further protests.
