Relief for universities, anger among students, amid changes to post-secondary funding

CTV’s Jeff Pickel takes a look at changes to post-secondary funding and how it could impact prospective and current students.

University of Waterloo campuses are quiet for reading week, but the student association says they are ready to make noise over changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP).

“I don’t think I’ve seen anger like this coming from students in a very long time,” Damian Mikhail, president of Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association, said.

Last week the province announced a major change that will decrease the amount of funding offered through grants from approximately 85 per cent to a maximum of 25 per cent. The government will also be lifting a seven-year tuition fee freeze.

Starting this fall Ontario post-secondary institutions will be allowed to increase tuition rates by two per cent for the next three years.

“I’ve heard students talking about how they’re not sure if they can continue in their degrees because these changes to OSAP would mean that they’d be left with such a large financial burden,” said Mikhail.

The student association at Wilfrid Laurier University says it has similar concerns, and worries about an outsized impact on specific students.

“It puts more financial pressure on students, especially low- and middle-income students, to be able to access post-secondary education, especially with programs that are in higher demand - oftentimes they are higher cost programs,” said Ryan Jobby, president of Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union.

While students are concerned about what the future holds, universities are welcoming the news.

“We are very grateful to the government of Ontario for the changes that they announced last week. It represents a significant change to the financial sustainability future for the university,” said Nick Manning, vice president of communications with the University of Waterloo.

Over the past several years, universities across the province have said they are facing financial challenges and operating at multi-million dollar losses.

“Prices have increased through inflation and salaries and costs go up year after year after year, we know that we have to make some changes to be more efficient and deliver the best financial value for for the government and for our students,” Manning said.