When Ontario’s Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security Nolan Quinn announced sweeping changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) on February 12, 2026, the reaction from students was immediate and largely alarmed. Quinn stood behind those changes again days later at a press conference in Cornwall, defending them as a necessary correction to a program he says had become financially unsustainable. But for many of Ontario’s post-secondary students — including those at institutions right here in Eastern Ontario — the changes are anything but abstract. They represent a significant shift in how students fund their education, and who ultimately carries the cost of it.
What Changed, and Why
The headline change is stark: the maximum portion of OSAP funding that can be delivered as a non-repayable grant has been slashed from 85 per cent to 25 per cent. The remainder — at least 75 per cent — will now come in the form of loans that must be repaid after graduation. To put that in concrete terms, a student who previously received $10,000 in OSAP assistance could have counted on $8,500 of that as a grant they would never have to pay back. Under the new rules, that same student would receive only $2,500 as a grant and owe at least $7,500 back to the province.
At the same time, the province is ending a seven-year tuition freeze that has kept domestic tuition at 2019-20 levels. Starting in the fall of 2026, publicly assisted colleges and universities will be permitted to raise tuition by up to two per cent per year for three years, after which increases will be capped at either two per cent or the three-year average rate of inflation, whichever is lower. Ontario already has the highest average undergraduate tuition in the country, sitting at approximately $8,514 per year according to Statistics Canada.
The government has also announced it will no longer provide OSAP grants to students at private career colleges — only loans.
Quinn frames all of this as part of a larger $6.4 billion investment in post-secondary institutions over four years — an increase that will grow provincial per-year spending on the sector from roughly $5 billion to $7 billion. The announcement also includes 70,000 new seats in high-demand programs and increased funding for more expensive programs that have been underfunded for years. “We had a pressure of $2.3 billion this fall if we didn’t act and change the way OSAP was granted,” Quinn told reporters in Cornwall. “We are now more aligned with the rest of the jurisdictions across Canada.”
His case rests partly on context: OSAP under the previous structure was among the most generous student assistance programs in Canada, and demand had grown dramatically as more students qualified and applied. Ontario’s Financial Accountability Office confirmed in an October 2025 review of the provincial budget that the Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security was projected to see a 3.3 per cent funding decrease beginning in 2026-27, with further financial pressure looming in subsequent years.
The Real-World Numbers
For students, the math is sobering. According to the Central Student Association at the University of Guelph, essentially every OSAP-receiving student at that institution would graduate with an additional $7,270 in debt under the new framework. With approximately 12,000 students at U of G receiving OSAP, that could translate to an average total debt load of roughly $27,060 for a four-year degree — and this in a province whose students already carry some of the highest debt burdens in Canada.
The change effectively inverts what OSAP was designed to be: a program that prioritized non-repayable support. Under the new model, loans are the default and grants the exception.
For students at private career colleges, the situation is more severe: they will receive no grants at all through OSAP beginning in the fall of 2026, only loans.
Who Is Most Affected
Not all students are equally exposed. Those from low-income families have historically received the highest proportion of OSAP funding as grants, meaning the shift toward loans hits them hardest. For first-generation students, newcomers, and those without family financial support, the change can be transformative in the most discouraging sense.
Consider the situation described by Xingtong Shan, a Grade 12 student in London, Ontario, heading to university in the fall. A new immigrant with five siblings, Shan had been counting on OSAP grants to help ease a significant family financial burden. “It’s quite a burden for my parents to help fund my university,” he told CBC News. He also noted that the announcement came after he and many peers had already submitted their university applications and received acceptance offers — leaving them with little time to change their plans.
Pietro Sales, a student at George Brown College with two children and a full-time program, summed up the calculation many face: “Whatever help I can get helps out.” For students balancing school with parenting, caregiving, or part-time work, the difference between a grant and a loan is not merely financial — it shapes whether post-secondary education is feasible at all.
Then there is Nusir, a low-income student from the Middle East studying at a London-area university, whose OSAP grants had actually exceeded his loans due to his demonstrated financial need. He now says he may not be able to afford medical school, and is planning to cut back on volunteer work — including hospital volunteering — to increase his paid work hours. The irony does not escape him: Premier Ford has urged students to pursue careers in healthcare, yet the funding structure that helped Nusir pursue exactly that path has now been significantly weakened.
The “Basket-Weaving” Controversy
Ontario Premier Doug Ford drew sharp criticism when he responded to the wave of student concerns on February 17 by telling reporters that students needed to stop picking “basket-weaving courses” and invest in education that leads to in-demand jobs. “You’re picking basket-weaving courses,” Ford said, “and there’s not too many baskets being sold out there.” He directed students toward STEM, healthcare, trades, and tech instead.
Minister Quinn, when pressed on the comment in Cornwall, declined to speak for the Premier but interpreted the remark as relating to ensuring that educational investment aligns with labour-market outcomes.
The backlash was swift. Liberal education critic John Fraser said Ford’s comments were disrespectful and that every young person he had spoken with was focused on finding employment regardless of their field of study. Indigenous artists and cultural advocates also pushed back, pointing out that the dismissal of arts and crafts-based learning carries particular resonance — and harm — in Indigenous contexts.
More pointed was the counterargument from students themselves, who noted that many of those most worried about the OSAP cuts are studying the very fields Ford was promoting. Alden Buckton, a first-year nursing student at Georgian College in Owen Sound, is a case in point. His program discourages students from working more than two days per week because of the demanding course load, yet he already commutes 50 kilometres daily because rent near the college is unaffordable. He relies on OSAP to cover his tuition entirely. “It’s not like I’m picking a course where it’s not in demand,” Buckton told CBC News. “I’m a guy trying to be a nurse.”
What the Government Offers in Response
The province is pointing to several offsetting measures. Foremost is an enhanced Student Access Guarantee (SAG), which requires post-secondary institutions to top up funding for low-income students if OSAP does not fully cover their tuition, books, and mandatory fees. The details of the enhanced SAG are still being negotiated between the province and individual institutions and are expected to be finalized before the 2026-27 OSAP application opens in the spring.
Quinn also emphasized that OSAP loans are not like commercial loans. Students do not accrue interest while enrolled full-time, and interest rates upon graduation are described as significantly lower than standard consumer debt. A six-month grace period before repayment begins also offers some breathing room for new graduates.
The Council of Ontario Universities has welcomed the broader funding package. “This new investment strengthens the very foundation our universities provide,” said Steve Orsini, president and CEO of the Council of Ontario Universities. Colleges Ontario president Maureen Adamson called it a “generational investment.” Institutions, which had faced mounting financial pressure after years of frozen tuition and the federal government’s 2024 cap on international student admissions, see the new model as a lifeline.
Opposition and Student Voices
The political response has been vigorous. Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles launched a “Save OSAP” campaign within days of the announcement, calling the changes a “lifetime debt sentence” and arguing that saddling graduates with high debt damages the province’s economic prospects long-term. “You cannot build a strong economy on the backs of a generation buried in debt,” Stiles said. The NDP is also pointing to Ontario’s youth unemployment — among the highest in Canada — as a context that makes heavy debt burdens at graduation especially punishing.
The Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA) and the College Student Alliance both raised concerns, with OUSA’s vice-president of finance Omar Sayyed noting that the job market is already very difficult for young graduates, and that entering it with significantly more debt compounds the challenge considerably. Sayyed called for measures such as extending the loan grace period and ensuring loans remain interest-free as ways to soften the blow.
For its part, the Canadian Federation of Students called the changes “a huge disadvantage for students” and predicted the incoming cohort would graduate with more debt than any before it.
The Ontario Greens, the Liberals, and student advocacy groups across the province have echoed similar concerns, though with varying emphasis on what should replace the current model.
A Broader Shift in Philosophy
What Ontario’s changes really represent is a philosophical turning point in how the provincial government thinks about post-secondary education. For the better part of a decade — particularly after the 2018 election when the PCs cut tuition by 10 per cent and expanded OSAP grants — Ontario treated post-secondary education largely as a public good to be subsidized generously by the province. The new model moves closer to the view that education is primarily a personal investment, the financial returns of which fall on the individual — and so should the costs.
This is, as Quinn noted, more consistent with how other Canadian provinces handle student assistance. It is also consistent with a broad North American trend toward loan-heavy student finance. Whether it is the right model for Ontario — a province with high tuition, high housing costs, high youth unemployment, and a stated desire to grow its healthcare and skilled trades workforce — is a question being debated with unusual urgency in lecture halls, legislators’ offices, and family kitchens across the province.
What Students Should Do Now
For current and incoming students, the practical steps are clear even as the political debate continues. The 2026-27 OSAP application will be released in the spring of 2026 and will reflect the new grant-to-loan ratio — students should review it carefully when it becomes available. Those concerned about affordability should contact their institution’s financial aid office to understand what the enhanced Student Access Guarantee may mean for their specific situation. Families are advised to revisit RESP projections, budget for at least two per cent annual tuition increases, and explore external scholarships and bursaries that fall outside the OSAP system.
Most importantly, students facing uncertainty should not wait passively. The details of the enhanced SAG — which could be significant for lower-income learners — are still being worked out. Those details matter, and students who engage with their financial aid offices early will be better positioned to navigate what is, by any measure, a considerably changed landscape.
Sources: Morrisburg Leader, CBC News, Global News, CP24, Guelph Today, Council of Ontario Universities, Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, College Student Alliance, Ontario Financial Accountability Office, Statistics Canada.
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