Ontario data reveals that $13.1 million in financial aid over two years — a small fraction of total disbursements — was wrongly granted to students later found to be ineligible, with no cases referred to police, raising questions about the scale of alleged abuse Premier Doug Ford cited, in part, to justify overhauling OSAP.
Last year, $8,332,363 in student assistance was wrongly issued due to “false or invalid information, incorrect statuses, participation in non-bona fide studies or other discrepancies,” according to records obtained by the Toronto Star through a freedom-of-information request. In 2024, the amount was $4,719,310.
In the fiscal year 2024-25, the government spent $1.7 billion in OSAP grants and $301 million on loans, assisting 473,000 students. Based on these figures and the new data, the payments found to be ineligible represent less than one per cent of total disbursements and number of students affected. (The proportions of ineligible aid may in fact be overstated as the wrongly granted aid covers two whole years as opposed to one fiscal year.)
“Any inappropriate use of OSAP funding is unacceptable,” Bianca Giacoboni, press secretary to Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn, told the Star on Monday. “We have a robust framework in place to protect OSAP from fraudulent use, and we are implementing new technology and exploring other avenues to strengthen the program’s integrity.”
The records requested by the Star did not disclose how much of the funding has been recouped, noting that a “standard OSAP repayment process” applies. They note that while some cases may result in defaulted loans that proceed to collections, “we do not have aggregate numbers based on investigations and do not track this data.”
In February, the government, as part of its announcement of a $6.4 billion investment in post-secondary and the lifting of the tuition freeze, said it was revamping the Ontario Student Assistance Program, moving from a largely grant-based model to one where three-quarters of aid would be in the form of repayable loans. The ministry, which estimated the cost of OSAP could hit $4.1 billion by 2028-29, explained that the changes would strengthen the long-term sustainability of the program and bring it in line with other provinces.
Days later, Premier Ford focused on allegations of misuse, saying he had received thousands of calls along with accounts of students using OSAP funds to purchase luxury items. “I’ve heard some nightmare stories … about kids going out there buying fancy watches and cologne and not needing it,” he said. “That doesn’t fly with the taxpayers.”
Quinn later told the Globe and Mail that over the past two years, the ministry has been investigating numerous cases of alleged fraud and misuse of OSAP funds, with 902 investigations last year, up from 862 the year before. At the time, the minister’s office did not provide additional details on the outcomes of those investigations but provided the Globe with links to online videos and posts in which students appeared to claim using OSAP funds for Blue Jays tickets and Ray-Ban sunglasses.
“Any misuse of government funding through a program like OSAP is concerning because you want that financial assistance to go to students who need it the most,” says New Democrat MPP Peggy Sattler, her party’s critic for colleges and universities.
But, she posited, “Why is the premier making these suggestions that abuse of OSAP is rampant … this data does not support that.
“They’re using these allegations as a way to justify gutting the financial assistance that so many low and moderate-income students in Ontario rely on to be able to fund their post-secondary education.”
Data obtained by the Star shows that there were 909 cases investigated by the province in 2025; 751 were closed and 151 remain open. In 2024, there were 879 investigations; 39 remain open.
Over those two years, 530 cases were deemed the most egregious, and, according to the ministry, would have required immediate repayment of ineligible funds and restricted access to OSAP until the debt was repaid. Penalties in other cases vary depending on the seriousness and can include a hold on funding, a warning, an adjustment to entitlement and a requirement to repay overpayments.
The ministry draws a clear line between misuse, misrepresentation, and fraud with only the latter constituting a criminal offence and the focus of police investigations, of which none were reported.
The documents note that OSAP investigations are becoming increasingly complex, particularly in verifying the identity and eligibility of applicants with complicated immigration or residency status. They also point to challenges created by fully online applications and learning, along with the use of AI and other digital tools to alter or forge documents, as well as broader systemic pressures including comprehension barriers and predatory recruitment targeting vulnerable applicants.
Giacoboni told the Star that the changes to the OSAP framework, which was “no longer sustainable due to the federal government’s decision to remove grant eligibility from students at private career colleges, coupled with increased program uptake,” are intended to ensure the province can “keep supporting our students’ investment for many years to come.”
However, Cyrielle Ngeleka, chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario, told the Star that regardless of the data, “there is no situation that warrants sweeping cuts to grants and a broader shift towards loans, and it is very difficult to justify these changes as being about fraud prevention or misuse.
“What students are seeing is a government using a very limited number of cases to rationalize broader austerity measures in post-secondary education. The impact of these decisions are being felt by ordinary students who are now expected to graduate with deeper debt in a province where employment is not guaranteed. These policy changes place a heavy financial burden back onto students.”
