Students worried, devastated after Ontario pauses OSAP for private career colleges

Students worried, devastated after Ontario pauses OSAP for private career colleges

Pause comes while audit probes possible OSAP misuse at some schools

Students left stranded as Ontario halts OSAP funding for private colleges

Students at private career colleges say they're devastated and their studies are in limbo after the Ontario government paused Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) payments to anyone enrolled in those institutions while an audit probes potential misuse of the financial aid program within those schools.

Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn announced the pause Tuesday. He also said the province asked provincial police to get involved after a preliminary audit identified "serious concerns" about the integrity of the OSAP system in the private postsecondary sector.

Private career colleges typically offer vocational training for a fee in fields like business and health. The programs can range from dental assistants to skilled trades.

Many students impacted have already started school with their OSAP applications approved.

That includes Hope Beaulieu, a student at North Bay's CTS Canadian Career College campus who is studying office administration online.

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Beaulieu said OSAP funding "was the ticket" to being able to afford her full tuition and buy school materials like textbooks.

Without it, she says she can't afford to continue her studies, and she worries for her classmates and the future of the program.

"It's not nothing to re-arrange our lives and take this step," she said, referring to making the choice to go back to school.

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In an emailed statement Wednesday, Bianca Giacoboni, spokesperson for the Ministry of Colleges and Universities, said the ministry has seen evidence of systemic issues with OSAP in "recent weeks" within the private college sector.

"At this time, we do not have assurances from the audit team that the issues are not more widespread. That is why we have taken a system-wide approach and paused OSAP funding while the investigations continue,” she said.

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Pause frustrating: Private college owner

The ministry launched targeted inspections of career colleges last year in response to growing concerns around OSAP usage. In August it had accounting firm KPMG begin an audit.

Grace Chan, owner and founder of Sutherland-Chan School of Massage Therapy, says her school has been compliant with OSAP guidelines for decades.

She said it's unfair to penalize all private career colleges because of a few schools that are currently being investigated for mismanagement, and that the move is frustrating.

"[The] uncertainty, it's not fair to the students. They planned this career, to come into school, and then this happened," she said.

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Chan says the majority of students who attend her college fund their studies with OSAP. It will be challenging to figure out operations if those students can't continue their studies, she said, while a select number of students paying out of pocket can still keep going to class.

"It's a lot to think about and a lot to plan for the sake of the students, but also for the school and how we're going to manage it," she said.

"We are just letting [students] continue going to school, we're not going to stop because of that … we are going to continue and start thinking about payment plans for them."

Chan said she's hoping that the province can help fast-track audits for schools that have been compliant for decades in order to avoid possibly shuttering programming or operations.

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Kiera Hill, a student at Sutherland-Chan who is more than halfway through her studies, called the pause "pretty devastating."

Hill said that she's going to try to support herself as best she can to continue with the program, but it may be difficult because it's unclear if the program will be around long enough for her to finish her studies.

"Everything is up in the air," she said.

Career Colleges Ontario, the association representing career colleges, is urging the provincial government to reinstate OSAP loans for students who were already approved for funds and are actively attending in-person classes.

"The integrity of the student assistance system must be protected, but students who enrolled in good faith and are attending legitimate programs must be protected too," it said in a news release Wednesday.

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Alina Snisarenko is a Toronto-based journalist. She currently works as a digital writer for CBC Toronto and has previously worked as an associate producer with CBC Radio's Metro Morning. You can reach her with story ideas or tips at alina.snisarenko@cbc.ca.

With files from Lorenda Reddekopp, Kirthana Sasitharan, and Allison Jones of The Canadian Press