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Academy of Learning career college in Brampton, Ont. The provincial government plans to table a bill next week that would limit enrolment growth at career colleges, among other legislative changes.Arlyn McAdorey/The Globe and Mail
Students taking online-only classes at private postsecondary institutions in Ontario would no longer qualify for government loans under a package of legislative changes the Progressive Conservatives will table next week to strengthen oversight of the beleaguered career college sector.
The proposed overhaul will also require career colleges to have a physical location, prohibit third-party recruiters such as immigration consultants from setting up shop on campus and limit the runaway enrolment growth that first sparked concerns about suspicious activity at half a dozen Greater Toronto Area private colleges.
However, the province made no mention of lifting a freeze on loan disbursements to career colleges and their students earlier than next year, after the rules are tightened from the overhaul. Several career colleges say they won’t survive that long without their chief source of revenue: tuition paid through the Ontario Student Assistance Program, the province’s needs-based financial aid plan.
Ontario extends OSAP ban for three career colleges until at least 2030
Nolan Quinn, Ontario’s Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security, unveiled the proposed changes at a news conference Thursday.
“Ontario’s postsecondary system is intended to prepare students for our province’s in-demand careers of tomorrow and any misuse of this system for personal, predatory gain is entirely unacceptable,” Mr. Quinn said in a statement. “These measures will strengthen OSAP integrity, hold institutions to higher standards and ensure public funding supports high-quality education and better outcomes for students.”
Mr. Quinn paused OSAP payouts to private career colleges and their students in early October after the initial findings of a third-party audit turned up serious concerns about how government aid was being used in the sector. Some of those concerns were forwarded to Ontario Provincial Police.
OSAP freeze alarms private colleges as minister feels the heat
Career Colleges Ontario, an industry association that represents about 280 private career college campuses, warned provincial officials as early as January 2023 that enrolment had skyrocketed at a small number of schools in a manner that smacked of “suspicious activity.”
The association has been urging the government to resume OSAP payments to private colleges that aren’t suspected of wrongdoing as soon as possible.
“We remain extremely concerned about the impact on students, and we continue to call on the government to restore OSAP immediately for students at compliant institutions,” the association’s spokeswoman Taylor Buck said by e-mail Wednesday, before Mr. Quinn’s latest announcement.
“We support strong oversight and action where there are legitimate compliance concerns, but that can be done without penalizing students who have followed the rules.”
Opposition politicians have accused the Ontario government of failing to catch bad actors earlier, then punishing the entire sector for the misdeeds of a few.