Changes to student assistance for Ontario students went into effect in August. That means this fall, Ontario postsecondary students will face higher student debt loads, with maximum grant allowances falling from 85% to 25% compared to last year and loans making up the rest up to 75%. It's also a record year for first-year undergraduate registrations at Ontario universities, meaning even more young people staring down more loans and uncertainty about how to pay them off after graduation. This will be a significant challenge for students and their families, but it's also bad news for Ontario's economy.
Ontario students become Ontario workers and Ontario needs them. In the next decade, the Ontario workforce is projected to require an estimated one million university graduates. If those new graduates are saddled with larger debt loads, they might not be able to move around the province, take entry-level positions in their field, explore further education, or buy a home. The possibility of taking on more debt may prevent some students from pursuing postsecondary education altogether. That's a generation of young people potentially restricted from realizing their potential and fully contributing to our economy.
The government has claimed that OSAP was "unsustainable." But The Trillium reported that students at private career colleges received 40% of publicly funded OSAP grants in 2024-2025, more than either public college or university students. Students at private career colleges are no longer eligible for grants, and some ineligible for loans, but after years of funneling public dollars into the private system, the response to an "unsustainable" OSAP bill was to bring in cuts that will leave all students with more debt. All students are paying the price for the government's poor decisions.
At the same time, cuts to OSAP have paid for the government's newly funded university seats in STEM, health care, and education programs. These will be critical areas to our province's future, but they are not the only industries that will need workers. Nor are they the most economical choices for students facing more debt STEM programs are often more expensive to attend than arts and humanities programs. All university programs train students for careers across industries, and graduates rarely stay in the same field as their degree (with some exceptions). University graduates are more resilient to market shake-ups and find new jobs faster than those without a university education. The 2020 cohort of graduates of Ontario university humanities programs had the same median earnings as STEM graduates and the same employment rate after three years. These diverse outcomes are well suited to a diverse economy like Ontario's.
Funding seats in some programs while underfunding others within an already chronically underfunded public university system will not deliver economic success to Ontario or its workers. Nor will a new OSAP framework that burdens young people and their families with debt at the beginning of their professional lives. Continuing to underfund our universities will force faculty to keep doing more with less to support students, to the detriment of teaching and learning conditions.
Reversing unnecessary OSAP cuts and converting all loans into grants will help university students pursue jobs and careers that fit their lives and the province's needs, and pivot during unexpected challenges in the labour market. Funding seats in all university programs will ensure Ontario has the diverse workforce it needs to sustain our economy. A fully funded public university system is key to a thriving economy. If the Ford government cares about Ontario's economy, it should care about the long-term health of our universities. The future of Ontario's workers depends on it.
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