Ontario students push back on Ford's OSAP cuts

On February 11, the Ford government announced $6.4 billion in spending on post-secondary education over four years.  This big number belies the fact that the amount will barely move the needle to increase per-student funding and contains a double-barreled poison pill for students. Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) will be drastically changed, dropping the grant portion from 85% to 25%, which means students relying on OSAP will be saddled with massive loan debt.  Also, the tuition freeze in place since 2019 will end, and costs will rise for already stretched students and their families.

 

According to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), this funding charade doesn’t even return post-secondary funding levels to what they were a decade ago and maintains the ‘embarrassing gap’ in per-student funding.  Ontario remains in last place in per-student post-secondary funding in Canada.

 

The Ford government and college and university administrations place the blame for a funding shortfall on the federal international student cap. But what the cap really exposed is that colleges and universities have been using international students, who pay almost three times the tuition of domestic students, to cover the shortfall from Ford’s chronic underfunding of the system. During the OPSEU college support staff strike in the fall, Ford’s corrupt scheme of syphoning training funds to the private sector through the Skills Development Fund (SDF) also came to light.  

 

College and university administrators are welcoming the funding, but there is no guarantee the money will fund student programs and services. Administrators have massively increased highly paid management positions and funded endless building projects while cutting faculty, staff, and student services. The Ontario Public Sector Employees Union (OPSEU) reported that 10,000 faculty and staff were laid off as of last fall. Loyalist College in Belleville now has the same number of managers as full-time faculty. Hundreds of college programs have been cut or suspended, and several campuses have been closed.  

 

At Queen’s University in Kingston, the union representing grad student workers -PSAC 901- was sharply critical of the funding, “Allowing tuition to rise by up to two per cent each year while pushing students toward more debt means many will pay thousands of dollars more over the course of their education. For students already struggling with rising rents, food prices, and stagnant wages, these so-called “modest” increases create serious financial pressure and long-term insecurity.”

 

York Students Federation at York University stated that on top of Ford’s cuts, students face extreme rising costs of on-campus services. York University has increased meal plan costs by 16.5%, residence costs by 18%, and parking costs by 12% in just one year.  

 

Ford defended the OSAP cuts and tuition increase, blaming students for choosing  ‘basket-weaving’ courses instead of courses leading to jobs.

 

The Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario has responded that, ‘Students are paying the price for this government’s failures. The Ford government’s decision to open the floodgates to tuition increases and the decimation of OSAP will destroy what’s left of education in Ontario. Enough is enough – it's time to take to the streets and flex the true power of students in the province.’

 

They have called a mass rally for March 4. High school students and post-secondary staff and faculty have pledged to join them.