A small subset of private career colleges in Ontario has led explosive growth in the number of people receiving student financial assistance, new data shows, and the association representing the sector itself has raised concerns.
The number of students receiving grants and loans through the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) at a few of approximately 170 career colleges far outpaced growth at the rest, according to data obtained by The Canadian Press through a freedom-of-information request.
Some schools went from having fewer than 100 students receiving OSAP to several thousand in the span of a couple of years.
When it comes to the funding amounts, the total of provincial grants sent to students at just seven career colleges in 2024-25 was about $385 million.
While tuition at career colleges tends to be higher than at publicly funded colleges, that total equals the amount of provincial grants given to students at all of Ontario’s publicly funded colleges that year — and more than all Ontario university students.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government drastically cut student assistance grants earlier this year for students at universities and public colleges, while barring career college students from accessing grants, citing “unsustainable” OSAP costs.
A previous freedom-of-information request by The Canadian Press showed nearly all of the recent growth was among career college students, and the amount of OSAP going to university and college students was relatively flat.
But the new data further narrows that growth to a small number of schools.
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Career Colleges Ontario, the organization advocating for the sector, said it could not comment on alleged behaviours of any particular school, but said that it has raised concerns with the government related to a small number of institutions.
“We continue to work constructively with ministry officials to identify possible remedies and next steps — especially where there may have been atypically large increases in the number of OSAP applications submitted that cannot be justified to the government’s satisfaction,” spokesperson Taylor Buck wrote in a statement.
“It is important to emphasize that indications of irregular conduct are incredibly rare among our members. Protecting the integrity of their work and that of the OSAP system is our highest priority.”
The data release comes after Ontario’s colleges and universities ministry disqualified students at five career colleges from receiving OSAP in the upcoming school year.
According to a court filing from three of the schools who are seeking to have the decision quashed, the concerns centred around asynchronous learning programs, in which students complete online coursework on their own schedule.
It is a style of learning that can appeal to mature students who work full time or have families, but the province alleged “compromised participation” in those asynchronous programs.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the province temporarily extended OSAP eligibility to students in online and/or asynchronous programs, then later made it permanent.
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Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn’s office said that in addition to barring career college students from accessing OSAP grants, the province is preparing to take further steps.
“As we have already done in some cases, when serious concerns are identified, we will not hesitate to cut an institution off from OSAP entirely,” Quinn’s director of communications, Dayna Smockum, wrote in a statement.
“This fall, we will introduce additional legislative measures to curb out-of-control growth, strengthen accountability and ensure every public dollar is used responsibly and in the best interests of students.”
The Academy of Learning, whose multiple schools operate as franchises, and which has schools among those with the largest growth in OSAP recipients, said in a statement that its campuses tend to serve newcomers and people retraining for a second career, who can’t afford a four-year degree.
“Demographics have changed significantly and when that population grew, our enrolment grew with it,” the statement reads.
“Our institutions are operated with the utmost integrity. We have successfully placed thousands of graduates in quality jobs throughout the province, including in paramedic, IT and personal support worker roles.”
Four of the Academy of Learning locations were cut off from OSAP eligibility for this upcoming year.
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The new data shows that the Bay Street location went from 996 students claiming OSAP in 2021-22 to 7,435 in 2024-25. In the latter year, the total Ontario grants given to those students was more than $108 million.
Academy of Learning’s Brampton East location, which along with the Bay location is challenging the OSAP eligibility suspension in court, saw growth of more than 1,300 per cent from 2021-22 to 2024-25 — from 289 students receiving OSAP to 4,260.
Those kinds of increases are outliers in OSAP usage growth, said Alex Usher, president of Higher Education Strategy Associates, a consulting firm providing strategic advice to post-secondary institutions and governments.
“Of course it’s not [normal],” he said, noting that in Alberta a private career college’s student financial aid usage may only increase by a maximum of 10 per cent per year.
“Other provinces know this is a problem. There’s no excuse for Ontario not understanding this.”
