A week into Ontario’s OSAP freeze, private career college students say they may have to drop out

A week after Ontario paused all Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) payments tied to private postsecondary institutions, students at career colleges across the province say their studies are in limbo, and some say they may have to leave their programs. Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn announced the pause on Oct. 6, saying preliminary findings from an independent audit by KPMG had identified “serious concerns about the integrity of the OSAP system in the private postsecondary sector,” according to the minister’s statement.

The statement lists the problems found so far: common ownership, the involvement of immigration services firms and co-location between private career colleges and immigration recruitment or immigration services firms, inadequate validation of students and verification of course enrolment and outcomes, and unusually high concentrations of OSAP applications submitted from the same geographic locations. The government notified the auditor general and referred the matter to the Ontario Provincial Police, Quinn said.

The province says the concerns are not new. The ministry began receiving a growing number of complaints about OSAP applications at private career colleges in late 2024, and Career Colleges Ontario raised concerns about specific institutions on Jan. 15, 2025. In May 2026 the ministry issued notices of non-renewal to six campuses and suspended their OSAP eligibility, then brought in KPMG in August to assess the sector more broadly.

Ministry spokesperson Bianca Giacoboni told CBC News the ministry had seen evidence of systemic issues in recent weeks. “At this time, we do not have assurances from the audit team that the issues are not more widespread. That is why we have taken a system-wide approach and paused OSAP funding while the investigations continue,” she said. The pause covers payments associated with private institutions; it does not apply to Ontario’s public colleges and universities.

At a news conference the day of the announcement, Quinn said, “This is not a decision we made lightly, but it is necessary in order to support the integrity of the OSAP system,” CBC News reported. He said the province is working on low-interest, third-party student loans and would share details once available, and acknowledged the pause will likely affect enrolment and the financial viability of some schools. Private institutions will have to reapply for OSAP eligibility under stricter parameters.

For some students, the timing is the hardest part. Alyssa Wilson, a 28-year-old single mother of four enrolled in massage therapy at CTS Canadian Career College in North Bay, told BayToday her OSAP application had already been approved and she had cut her work hours and budgeted her rent and groceries around it. She said a private bank loan is not realistic for her. “If this doesn’t get figured out soon, I’ll have to drop out and go back to work,” she said. Her online petition, which asks the province to honour funding already assessed or approved before the pause and to fast-track reviews for students already in class, had passed 1,000 signatures.

Operators of established schools and their students are also upset about the system-wide approach, CityNews reported, and it remains unclear how long the KPMG audit and the police review will take. Neither the minister’s statement nor the ministry comments reported since has set a date for payments to resume.

Sources: Ontario Newsroom, statement by Minister Quinn (Oct. 6, 2026); CBC News (Oct. 6, 2026); CBC News (Oct. 7, 2026); CityNews Toronto (Oct. 8, 2026); BarrieToday/BayToday (Oct. 12, 2026).