At 46, Angele Proulx took a chance when she enrolled in Trillium College’s community and development service worker program, hoping to find a career that would support her and her son.
Proulx, who lives in St. Catharines, said that with three months left in her program, she no longer knows if she can afford to finish amid the province’s freeze of the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP).
In early October, the government announced it was putting OSAP funding on hold for private career colleges after an audit found “serious concerns” of its use at some private post-secondary institutions, according to Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn.
The province also paused some funding through Better Jobs Ontario, which provides financial support to unemployed people seeking in-demand skills training.
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Trillium College abruptly stopped in-person and online classes Oct. 17 to look into “viable financial arrangements” for students affected by OSAP and Better Jobs Ontario funding interruptions, the career college wrote in an email to students.
Classes are set to resume Nov. 9, according an Oct. 30 email sent to students by the school, which has locations across Ontario, including in St. Catharines, Kingston, Oshawa, Sudbury and Cobourg.
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Trillium College told CBC Niagara that the academic pause was needed to reorganize its operations and work on protecting the education already completed by students, as well as to “establish a stable environment in which students can continue working toward graduation.”
However, students getting OSAP funding were given monthly payment plans of around $1,400 to $1,900 from Trillium College.
“If a payment is missed, declined or returned, the student’s attendance may be temporarily paused while the college contacts the student and the payment issue is reviewed,” Trillium College wrote in its Oct. 30 email.
Even with OSAP, Proulx can only afford to cover groceries and transportation, forgoing medication she was prescribed, because she says she can’t afford it, after recently suffering a stroke. She sold her car to try to maintain her housing, but eventually lost that as well.
“There’s no lavish living on OSAP,” said Proulx, who was using the financial aid to cover most of her tuition.
In August, she had to move to a shelter with her son, who has a disability, all while finishing her program.
“I have been through hell for this and I’m not going to stop fighting until I get the document that I paid for — my graduation certificate.”
The last three months of her program requires completing a 540-hour placement, which is full time and unpaid.
Proulx asked the college if she could do fewer weekly hours to fulfil the placement requirement now that she doesn’t have OSAP so she could get a part-time job to pay her tuition.
In an email shared with CBC Niagara, Trillium College responded that it could not reduce the placement hours.
“They can’t just take that away from us and offer no emergency funding, no help, no grace period, no nothing,” said Proulx.
In an email to CBC Niagara, the minister of colleges and universities’ press secretary, Bianca Giacoboni, said the ministry is “working to develop options for low-interest, third-party loans facilitated by financial institutions to support students through this period of transition.”
Trillium College told CBC Niagara that until a “strengthened validation process” is put in place by the province, something that’s expected in the new year, OSAP payments to private institutions will remain frozen.
Proulx said it shouldn’t be at the expense of those who are “innocent” and now having to contemplate dropping out of their programs.
Going back to school “was scary enough as it is, but it ruined my life now.”
Bailey Wilson, a single mother of two, said she left a stable job to enrol in Trillium College’s community and development service worker program.
Instead of going to university or taking Niagara College’s two-year diploma, Wilson chose Trillium’s 13-month program to help fast-track her goal to get into social work.
But with her OSAP payments on pause, she said, she can no longer afford to continue now that the school is asking for $1,956.33 a month.
“All my decisions just blew up in my face,” Wilson told CBC Niagara, adding that she missed out on moments with her children to work on her assignments.
“I’m three and a half months away from graduating and I can’t even because I have to withdraw.
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“They don’t care about their students,” said Wilson. “It’s quite clear by their payment plan that they gave us.”
Trillium College told CBC Niagara that it is reviewing every program and cohort, with particular attention given to students close to completing their program within the next three months.
Jaymie Davies, a law clerk student at Trillium College, entered the program with the goal of working in administrative oversight and investigations, and to support her family.
She has four months left in her two-year program.
The pauses on OSAP and Trillium College’s classes were, she said, “earth-shattering,” and left her questioning her academic and career choices.
Davies said a family friend has offered to cover her first month’s tuition, but she has yet to hear more details as classes are expected to return on Monday.
“I’m sitting here with a mountain of debt, no diploma to show for it,” said Davies. ”I tried to better us and subsequently put us in a worse off situation than we were three years ago.”
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