Ontario Liberals seek audit of OSAP spending at career colleges

The Ontario Liberals have requested that the provincial auditor general investigate the oversight and spending of the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) at private career colleges. The request follows reports indicating a rapid increase in OSAP spending concentrated within a small number of institutions.

Data shows that in the 2024-25 academic year, career college students received nearly $1 billion in OSAP grants, with just seven colleges accounting for $385 million of that total. Furthermore, 95 per cent of the $465 million increase in provincial OSAP grant spending between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 academic years was directed toward private career college students.

Liberal colleges and universities critic Tyler Watt has called for a value-for-money audit, suggesting the government may not be properly overseeing the program. This comes after Career Colleges Ontario raised concerns regarding indicators of suspicious activity in OSAP applications as early as January 2023. Meanwhile, Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn previously noted that the cost of OSAP was becoming ‘unsustainable,’ leading to reductions in grants for university and publicly funded college students.