At Redeemer University, students with no access to OSAP funds can defer tuition and on-campus housing payments, receive credit to purchase textbooks and pick up free food from an emergency pantry.
With about half of the Ancaster school’s 1,150 students eligible for aid, the province’s temporary ban on OSAP for all private colleges has caused so much uncertainty that the school stepped up to offer the interest-free and no-late-fee credit — a move it estimates will cost several million dollars this semester alone.
“It’s fair to say the blanket approach by the government has impacted our students by creating significant financial duress for them,” said David Zietsma, president of the private, not-for-profit Christian university near Hamilton.
“Many of them are unable to pay for tuition, pay for textbooks. We have some that are potentially facing eviction from their homes in the local community, some that are facing food insecurity. It’s just been a very difficult time for them, and so we’re advocating to the fullest extent that we can that the government take a more careful approach on this.”
Last week, Premier Doug Ford said his government would expedite audits of “low-risk” schools as it seeks to root out fraud in the system over concerns about systemic abuse at private institutions. On Monday, he said “we’re moving as quickly as possible” and that changes to OSAP were in the works.
A third-party audit is now under way — with some cases already referred to the Ontario Provincial Police — and Ford said “we’ve asked KPMG to prioritize low-risk colleges and universities. Let’s get them back up and moving as quickly as possible, and that’s our goal.”
However, there is no clear timeline — and in the meantime, a freeze on OSAP access for all private career colleges remains in place while the government works out a more stringent application process that will begin in the new year.
Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn has scheduled a press conference for Thursday morning.
He has previously said his ministry is working with financial institutions to provide third-party loans for students in the meantime.
Critics have hammered the government for punishing an entire sector because of a handful of “bad actors,” but Quinn has said it must first get a handle on the scope of fraudulent activity.
Career Colleges Ontario has said “restoring access for students at compliant institutions is urgent.”
But a spokesperson for Quinn said that as he and the premier have stated, “we are working as quickly as possible to restore integrity to the private postsecondary OSAP system and renew access to OSAP for institutions, while protecting taxpayer dollars and holding bad actors accountable.”
Redeemer is now spending several millions this semester, and more next if the ban continues, to support students, and “in the long run, obviously, it’s not sustainable” added Zietsma. “We’re doing our best to fill the gap for now.”
Students had come forward worried they would have to drop courses, or even drop out of school, “so we developed a way to (provide them with) credit to add to their student bill, and link that to their textbooks,” he said.
“We created a special bursary fund as well, but we wanted to have more of an immediate response for students facing food insecurity who came forward and said ‘look, I can’t even pay my grocery bills.’ It’s a response to real needs on the ground.”
Redeemer is an accredited university that grants degrees, and just last spring passed its most recent ministry audit, “and that has been our track record for decades,” Zietsma said.
Not-for-profits have additional public reporting requirements that the for-profit colleges don’t, he said, adding an extra layer of oversight.
