Students in career colleges across Ontario have been left confused and concerned for their futures following a Ford government decision on Tuesday to pause financial aid payments due to suspected criminal activity at some schools.
Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn announced that the government has asked provincial police to investigate the issue after auditors found some institutions are possibly taking improper advantage of the program.
The province also asked KPMG to begin an audit back in August and during the investigation and audit, OSAP payments will not go out to any career college students.
“I had to create a backup plan, and I’m also in midterms right now, so it’s very, very stressful thinking about this, it’s overwhelming. My chest kind of feels heavy,” said Daliah Gardoque, a student who is starting a new career path in her first semester at Toronto College of Dental Hygiene and Auxiliaries.
So far, it’s unclear how long the audit and provincial police investigation will last or when OSAP payments might resume.
“Not only do I have to create a backup plan, but also… does it really make sense to continue forth with the program, knowing that there is no timeline?” she said.
With all career colleges now under the watchful eye of the province and police, some institutions are raising concerns about the sweeping, one-size-fits all decision, rather than a more targeted approach.
“We’ve always been compliant. There have never been any concerns raised around our operations or around our OSAP compliance and oversight of funds,” said Michelle Lupa, Executive Director of Mothercraft Early Childhood Education College.
She added that they are currently scrambling to answer questions from impacted students while also trying to understand the long-term impacts on the school itself.
“We’re a little worried about being lumped into this broad category of questionable institutions when we would argue that we are a very reputable and accountable institution,” she said.
Meanwhile, critics argue that students are being left in difficult financial positions as a result of the Ford government’s failures.
“These are students who are doing PSW courses, becoming early childhood educators, dental hygienists, that followed the rules, and the government’s response – because they are trying to clean up their mess – is to just shut it off to everyone instead of going after the seven or 10 private institutions that are being accused of some concerning behavior,” said Liberal MPP Tyler Watt.
CityNews reached out to the province for a better understanding of the reasoning behind the decision as well as a timeline of when funding might restart.
“While the ministry’s initial investigations focused on a few schools, with the ministry since taking action to not renew OSAP at six campuses, in recent weeks we’ve seen evidence of systemic issues,” said Bianca Giacoboni, spokesperson for the ministry of Colleges and Universities.
“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.”
Gardoque for her part has started an online petition in an effort to get more of an explanation from the government as well as some clarity for those unsure of how they will pay for the career training they need.
“We wanted a better answer of what was going on because everybody had different answers. Everybody did their own research. Everybody was confronting faculty and even faculty didn’t know what was going on,” she said.
“We are at this point where we need answers because a lot of us can’t fund [our programs].”
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