NDP Colleges and Universities critic Chris Glover––joined by three students from different disciplines––spoke at a press conference in the Ontario Legislature building on Queen’s Park addressing the Ford government’s cuts to OSAP.
Earlier this year, the conservative government announced a $700 million cut in funding for OSAP. They also eliminated the six-month, interest-free grace period, and introduced the Student Choice Initiative. “We’re hearing from students who are going from studying full-time to studying part-time; we’re hearing from students who are having to drop out because of the costs and the cuts to financial support; and we’re also hearing about students who are working full-time while going to school full-time, and that’s having an impact on their ability to study,” Glover said.
Hanna Perka, a student at George Brown College studying American Sign Language English & Interpretation, expressed her concern of possibly having to drop out of college by saying, “Last year I received $13,000 of OSAP funding but this year I only got around $8000, nearly 40 percent less than what I expected. My OSAP this year doesn’t even cover my full tuition, and on top of that, I still need to pay for textbooks, online programs, food, transit, and Toronto rent.”
Mohamad Abdulhadi, a fourth-year accounting student at Conestoga College, talked about how he had to max out his credit cards to pay his tuition after receiving $4000 less funding than he expected. “I was told that I need to pay the full tuition in order to receive my schedule and to be officially enrolled in my classes, and because I was in a rush and I was stressed, I used both my credit cards, just so I can pay the difference that OSAP wasn’t able to pay,” he said. As an accounting student, Mohamad understands the danger of accumulating credit card debt, yet his hands were tied. “This is not how I hoped my last year of college would be. I wanted to focus on my future, prepping myself for the CPA, and building a career. But now my only focus is just to try to not drop out.”
Humera Dasu, a business student at York University, outlined how the tuition cuts are harmful to students instead of being helpful as the government promised: “For myself in particular, I saw a huge increase in loans and a huge decrease in grants, even those two combined didn’t cover the cost of my tuition. Last year my tuition was maybe $1500 higher but the OSAP I received covered my tuition and left money for textbooks and commuting, because of which I was much more well off than I am this year.”
When asked how students could get involved and make their demands heard, Chris Glover said, “Any action that students take has an impact. There’s two sources of power in a democracy, there’s money and votes. The students don’t have a lot of money but you have a lot of votes […]. We live in a democracy, you have the power to reverse these decisions, but you need to organize and you need to apply pressure.”
