WARMINGTON: OSAP cut off hurts woman with baby while international students still get funding

· Toronto Sun

This woman has a small child who attends a private Ontario Christian college where she’s studying to become a counsellor to help people.

But with her OSAP (Ontario Student Assistance Program) funding being cut off, now it’s her who needs help.

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And fast.

“I have not heard anything for months,” said the woman, who is a proud Canadian originally from Africa.

Her problem is the Ontario government has decided to stop the bleeding from millions of dollars being allegedly fleeced through OSAP at some private career colleges by stopping OSAP funding for all private colleges by using a broad brush.

But with her grants and loans – which allow her to raise her child while attending college – no longer coming in, this woman has no way to pay her tuition or food or rent. There are hundreds in a similar situation. Now if they were going to an international college in Gaza or China or Saudi Arabia, they would still be getting their OSAP funding courtesy of Canadian taxpayers.

Private colleges don’t get OSAP but ones in Iran and China do

If you go onto the OSAP School Search “find out if your school is approach for OSAP” for the 2026-27 “if your program starts anytime between Aug. 1 2026 to July 31, 2027” web page, it lists colleges it has approved including many off-shore schools like the Iran University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, the Islamic University of Gaza, China Central Academy of Fine Arts in Chaoyang District ZZ, the American University of Beirut and the Islamic University of Medina in Saudi Arabia, as well as many others.

Dayna Smockum, director of communications for Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security Nolan Quinn, explained “how that works, is the federal government has an agreement with each province for its student loans system” that “federal government contributes” to.

“If you are an Ontario resident and you want student loan support you have to apply through OSAP,” she said, adding, however, while “Ontario has chosen to not provide funding for those who go to international schools, the federal government has chosen that they will, so while they are applying on the Ontario government website, they are not getting Ontario dollars.”

She said it’s “the federal government’s money, it’s not our money” but it uses the OSAP website “because the federal government doesn’t have its own mechanism. They use the provinces to avoid duplication. It’s a bureaucratic processing measure. They provide the money, we administered OSAP.

But she insisted it’s not the “Ontario tax dollar that’s funding that student to go to the Iranian University or whatever.”

But Ontarians do contribute to the federal tax base and no matter how words are parsed, or how nuanced the funding is, it’s still a slap-in-the face for Ontario college students not getting their OSAP while knowing students studying abroad are.

Private Ontario colleges and their students in peril

Meanwhile, many of the 80,000 young people caught in this mess going to private colleges have done nothing wrong. Many of their colleges have also not done anything wrong but are stuck in a mess created by others they have no connection to.

Toronto’s Tyndale University said “our students began this semester with the reasonable expectation that the funding they rely on would be available. Weeks into their studies, they are still waiting. For some, this means being unable to pay rent, purchase groceries or cover transportation and textbooks” and “some have told us they are facing the threat of eviction. Students with disabilities are also experiencing delays in accessing funding for essential equipment and supports.”

This is a human crisis. It’s a big deal.

In a statement, Canada Christian College (CCC) said “our students are in tears and suffering. It is simply wrong to punish students who have done everything asked of them and are attending an institution that has been OSAP-approved for 22 years without a single warning or notice of non-compliance. The Ministry confirmed approval of all programs on July 16 and repeatedly assured us that OSAP semester confirmation would arrive ‘next week.’

CCC added “o ur students continued their education in good faith, many having received OSAP for years, trusting that the province would honour its commitment. Now, six weeks into the semester, they have been left without the funding they depend on, not just to study but to live, to buy groceries and pay rent. These students have done nothing wrong, and they should not be the ones paying the price.”

Ancaster’s Redeemer University said in a statement “Redeemer has over 1,100 students enrolled and many of them are impacted by this delay in funding” and “despite a long track-record of OSAP eligibility and compliance at Redeemer, that pause was extended across the whole category and no timeline has been provided for when OSAP funding might reach impacted students.”

It’s appropriate that the OPP have been notified, but what is happening here to innocent students and colleges is just wrong and needs to be fixed.

“At this time, we do not have assurances from the audit team that the issues are not more widespread,” explained Bianca Giacoboni, the college ministry’s press secretary. ”That is why we have taken a system-wide approach and paused OSAP funding while the investigations continue.”

Cutting off legitimate students at legitimate schools while they are in class seems cruel. Some of these colleges may have to lay off faculty or even close. In the meantime, I was set to show you a picture of the woman and her baby, but she said she fears repercussions against her and her child’s future if her identity is made public.

But I can pass her number along to Premier Doug Ford if he would like to talk to a displaced student personally or perhaps even help place her in one of the OSAP approved colleges in Iran or Gaza.

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