TORONTO — Ontario students are bracing for heavier loan loads this fall after the Ford government cut the maximum share of non-repayable grants under the Ontario Student Assistance Program from 85% to 25%, with the remainder issued as loans.The changes took effect August 1. At the same time, the province ended a seven-year tuition freeze, allowing publicly assisted colleges and universities to increase domestic tuition by up to 2% annually for the next three years.A spokesperson for Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn said the previous structure had become unsustainable. OSAP expenditures reached $2.7 billion in the 2025-26 fiscal year and were projected to climb to $4.1 billion by 2028-29 without reform. Freedom-of-information data showed the province spent an extra $465 million on OSAP grants between 2023-24 and 2024-25, with 95% of that increase going to private career-college students.University of Toronto master’s student Aidan Jeffers told CBC he is “incurring a vast amount more debt.” He will receive about $19,500 in OSAP this year — roughly $12,000 of it for tuition — and plans to work 25 to 30 hours a week during the school year..Queen’s University computer engineering student Ishan Bijukuchhay saw his overall OSAP funding drop by about $3,000. His first-year split was roughly 60% grants and 40% loans; it is now closer to 15% grants and 85% loans.Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance president Rory Norris said OSAP ranks as students’ top source of financial support and that more than 80% of surveyed students previously identified it as their primary aid. He is calling for the province to eliminate interest on the provincial portion of student loans — Ontario and Saskatchewan remain the only two provinces that still charge it — and to extend the six-month repayment grace period.A November 2025 student-alliance report put unemployment for Ontario youth with a bachelor’s degree at nearly 12%, compared with 9% nationally. Statistics Canada data from 2020 showed 25% of college graduates and 50% of university undergraduates in Ontario already carried more than $25,000 in debt at graduation.The government continues to point to the Student Access Guarantee and the Ontario Learn and Stay Grant. Officials say the average tuition increase will cost college students an extra $0.18 per day and university students $0.47 per day. Private career-college students now receive 100% of provincial OSAP funding as loans.The reforms form part of a broader effort to stabilize post-secondary finances after years of rising costs.
