Student aid payments to those attending private post-secondary institutions have been paused while the system is reviewed, criminal investigation initiated
Three students at CTS Canadian Career College protesting outside of Tom Davies Square this week say they’re in dire financial straits after the Ontario government recently paused student aid to students at career colleges.
As reported by Sudbury.com provincial affairs sister site The Trillium, Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) payments to students at private post-secondary institutions have been paused while a third-party auditor assesses “the broader integrity” of the system.
Earlier this month, the Ford government referred “criminal allegations” related to student financial aid at private career colleges to provincial police, two years after the body tasked with processing applications first raised concerns.
The government says it is working on options to provide low-interest, third-party loans for students at these colleges while OSAP payments are paused, although Minister of Colleges and Universities Nolan Quinn was unable to provide a timeline as to when this would happen.
Moriah Ferron, a single mother of four children who has just started her studies in the paralegal program at CTS in Sudbury, said her hydro was already cut off and she had to borrow money to pay the bill because of the situation.
“For many of us, we’re looking at major issues like housing insecurity and such, because OSAP is not just a matter of paying tuition,” she told Sudbury.com Oct. 15, as she and classmates held up signs to passing motorists on Paris Street.
“That’s how many of us are making ends meet until we’re able to graduate and then get a profession.”
Ferron said OSAP funds were supposed to be released Sept. 24. Initially they were told there was a “glitch” in the system before learning the money wouldn’t be coming.
“We’ve all done our part in writing to the Ombudsman of Ontario, writing the MPPs,” she said, adding that she thinks the situation is “unjust,” and “we have been really trying to get this rectified.”
Career colleges are a “low-barrier access point” to post-secondary education, and by removing OSAP loans, the province is putting up more barriers, Ferron said.
“Sudbury cannot afford to just be creating barriers to protective factors against poverty, homelessness, and all those things,” she said.
Tabatha Burns, also a single mother, who in her case has three kids, is halfway through the business management course at CTS. She started the program in April 2026, and is supposed to complete it in April 2027.
Having already received OSAP earlier this year for the first half of her program, she said she faces having to pay back the entirety of her loan if she doesn’t graduate.
She was supposed to receive the second half of her OSAP payment next month, and was putting off financial obligations until that time.
“So it puts me in a crazy debt, and then gives me housing insecurity, ineligibility to pay my hydro,” Burns said.
“Last week is when I found out about all this, and now I’ve been struggling to focus and struggling to take my tests, because what’s the point? You know, I’m going to fight, and I’m going to try to get the OSAP. If not, I have to look into finding more work.”
Steven Martin, who also just started the paralegal program at CTS, said he used to be a professional painter, but said he wanted to switch careers because he has a passion for the law and helping vulnerable people.
“Literally, I’m trying to sell my house right now so I could still continue school, which I don’t think I should be in that situation,” he said. “But, I mean, other people are in way worse situations than myself. I’m happy, I’m thankful and blessed that I have some cushion.”
He suggests that the province provide OSAP funds in installments to students “while they figure things out. Then once they do, they could be like, ‘OK, here’s the rest of everybody’s funding, right?’
“So I don’t understand why we’re in this situation, why we’re being victimized when it wasn’t us that committed the fraud.”
Sudbury has several career colleges, including CTS Canadian Career College and Trillium College in downtown Sudbury, Westlake College on Lasalle Boulevard and the WCTR College of Trades, Technology and Health Care in Hanmer.
Trillium College has suspended its academic operations as result of the OSAP pause at all of its Ontario campuses, including in Sudbury, the Canadian Press reports.
Following this article’s initial publication, Westlake College contacted Sudbury.com to say it’s unaffected by the current OSAP situation. Sudbury.com has asked Westlake for more information.
The Canadian Press has reported that the broad nature of the OSAP pause affects all private post-secondary institutions, including divinity schools, chiropractic and naturopathic medicine colleges, and performing arts schools such as Canada’s National Ballet School.
The formerly federated universities operating on Laurentian University’s campus also fall under this definition.
Thorneloe University currently offers a theology program with a small enrolment, but president Jason Tripp told Sudbury.com in an email while the OSAP situation potentially has negative implications for Thorneloe, none of its current students are using the student aid program.
Students at the Université de Sudbury, which launched its francophone university a year ago, also with a small enrolment, are not eligible for OSAP, which has caused many of its iaugural cohort of students to leave the institution, according to reports from francophone media. Sudbury.com has reached out to the institution for more information and will bring you that story at a later date.
Huntington University does not currently have any students, instead focusing on its several institutes, so it is not impacted.
-With files from The Trillium and the Canadian Press
Heidi Ulrichsen is a reporter with Sudbury.com.