Ontario private college students uncertain about future amid OSAP freeze

The Ford government says Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) payments will remain on hold until the new year, while it puts stronger checks in place.

The province has frozen payments to private career colleges while it investigates suspected fraud and funding misuse.

With no clear path forward, some students are worried about what this means for the future.

“I opened the email and I read it, I took a pause and I sat there and cried over and over again,” said Jennifer Koster, a law clerk student at Trillium College.

Koster says she was just four months away from graduating from her college law clerk program, when her OSAP funding and classes were put on hold.

READ MORE: Ontario to audit private post-secondary schools as OSAP pause continues

“To have that, like, just taken away from me like that is upsetting — I worked so hard,” said Koster.

Koster studies at trillium college St. Catharine’s, one of five college locations where classes are now on hold.

Trillium College suspended all classes on Oct. 16, following Ontario’s decision on Oct. 6, to freeze payments to students at private career colleges.

CHCH News reached out to Trillium College for comment, but haven’t heard back.

The Ministry of Colleges and Universities says it is looking into suspected student fraud and OSAP misuse.

WATCH MORE: OPP investigate possible criminal activity linked to OSAP funding

Oxford College paramedic student Kaitlyn Brown says she isn’t aware of any student fraud.

“We can’t use AI — we do quizzes with our phones at the front of the classroom, locked down browsers, I don’t see how you could get by without putting in the work,” said Brown. “Our course is in person, so I can’t speak for online programs, I guess that there might be a lot more flexibility to that.”

Students at private colleges say they’re uncertain about what comes next.

“They were supposed to come up with some sort of a plan for us but that never happened, so now I’m stuck debating whether I withdraw from Trillium, or wait and graduate,” said Koster.

“I’m still trying to stick it out as long as I can, but eventually the school wants to get paid,” said Brown. “It’s just, how long can I suffer through it until I either get a solution, or have no choice but to drop out and go back to work.”

Khurram Khan, an instructor at Mississauga’s NetSoft College of Technology, says funding cuts create a messy situation for both students and colleges.

READ MORE: Ontario blocks a few career colleges from OSAP for three additional years

“As a college, we are wanting students to fulfil their part of the contract, but as students, they were relying on OSAP to be able to do so,” said Khan.

But both Joster and Brown say solutions offered by the colleges are not manageable.

“The payment plans are either monthly payments directly to the school, which is kinda hard to do if you can’t work full time, and have other things to pay for, and the alternatives they’ve offered were loans with low interest rates,” said Brown.

“When they totalled it, my minimum monthly payment was $1,579 a month,” said Koster. “I have a 10-year-old, that’s not doable.”

The province says it is strengthening the OSAP approval process for career colleges, but the work isn’t done yet.

The new validation system isn’t expected until the new year.

READ MORE: Second career college court challenge reveals concerns about ‘bona fide studies’