University and college students across Ontario are protesting rising tuition fees and the province’s changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) in a walkout Thursday.
“Students have had enough of being asked to pay more, borrow more and accept less,” Cyrielle Ngeleka, chair of the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) Ontario, said at Queen’s Park Thursday.
“We have witnessed hundreds of programs cut, student services stretched and the cost of education pushed further onto the backs of students and their families.”
The walkouts are part of CFS Ontario’s “Hands Off Our Education!” campaign, with protests sprouting up on several campuses across Ontario, including York University, the University of Guelph, Trent University and University of Windsor.
Students brace for debt, reconsider studies as OSAP cuts take effect
“There has been very real impacts to students based on these OSAP cuts,” said University of Guelph student and president of the school’s student union Emilie Dudgeon.
“There are students who can’t afford to pay their rent and live in the city. There are students that are questioning whether or not they can afford to come back next semester.”
The protest comes after the province lifted a seven-year tuition freeze earlier in the year, which allowed universities and colleges to increase fees by up to two per cent each year over the next three years.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government has also been under fire for the larger part of the year after announcing changes to OSAP in February, citing “unsustainable” costs.
Changes to the student assistance program meant non-repayable grants were reduced from a maximum of 85 per cent to 25 per cent, while the percentage of funds given as loans increased. Many students have said scaled-back OSAP grants will saddle them with high debt loads amid economic uncertainty.
The province has previously defended the changes, and highlighted its $6.4-billion funding for Ontario’s colleges and universities, to be rolled out over the next four years.
Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn said in February the funding will help institutions provide competitive programs, high standards of education and be “resilient” to growing demands in the future.
CBC Toronto has requested additional comment from Quinn on Thursday’s protests.
At York University, students and supporters gathered at 9 a.m. with signs reading “OSAP weaves futures, not baskets,” (in response to a previous comment from Ford) and “Education should not be a debt sentence.”
Symone Lennon, president of the York Federation of Students, shouted “Tax on students” into a microphone as the crowd replied “Vote it down!”
“Every single student deserves to be here,” Lennon told CBC Toronto. “The message is simple. It’s not only ‘fund OSAP,’ it is simply ‘fund our education as students’ because we have a right to be here and it is not a privilege.”
York University student Symone Lennon, who is also president of the York Federation of Students, was protesting Ontario’s changes to OSAP on Thursday. (Paul Smith/CBC)
Lennon says one of her friends was forced to take time off from attending university because of changes to OSAP, and she herself is nervous about her future in a competitive job market.
“The future is looking quite bleak right now, for not only just me, but a number of students,” she said.
Recent York University graduate Sam Jean told CBC Toronto that he had heard some high schoolers were deferring post-secondary education because of changes to OSAP.
“It’s just completely pulled the rug out from a whole generation of students,” said Jean. “A lot of students acutely feel like we don’t have a future.”
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles said in a news release she stands with students protesting Ford’s changes to OSAP.
“Doug Ford has spent this year attacking students,” said Stiles. “We called on [Ford] to come up with a plan to provide immediate relief to students who need financial assistance. He and his government refused.
“They’ve made it clear that they have no interest in helping Ontario students…. Now, the Premier has no choice but to hear their voices.”
Ontario Greens Leader Mike Schreiner expressed the party’s support for university students in a statement Thursday.
“Young people are struggling to get by in an economy stacked against them. It’s never been harder to get a job and a record number of youth are being forced to choose between a roof and food,” he said.
“Now more than ever, we should be working to shrink student debt and remove barriers for young people — not sticking them with tens of thousands of dollars of debt.”
Schreiner called on the Ford government to reverse changes to OSAP, remove interest on student loans and unlock frozen funds so low and middle-income students can access non-repayable grants.
In addition to changes to student assistance to college and universities in Ontario, the provincial government has recently frozen OSAP funding for private career colleges after an audit found “serious concerns.”
Quinn has said the provincial government will bring back the program when it has the “confidence” and “guardrails in place” to ensure financial aid is being used in good faith.
