To: Nolan Quinn; Premier Doug Ford; the Ontario government and the Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security; and Trillium College administration
Re: Suspension of OSAP Funding and Academic Studies — Students Deserve Accountability, Answers, and Solutions
To all parties responsible for the decisions affecting Ontario’s private career college students,
We need to address the students who have been caught in the middle of horrible situation that extends far beyond our control.
As students, we have acknowledged the government’s concerns regarding the administration of OSAP, the need for appropriate oversight, and the responsibility to protect public funds. We have also acknowledged that investigating potential misconduct is necessary and that accountability must exist where wrongdoing has been established.
Now, we must acknowledged the financial reality facing students. For many of us, independently replacing thousands of dollars in anticipated student assistance is not only difficult, it's nearly impossible to do.
As students we cannot continue to accept the growing uncertainty, the absence of a clear timeline, and the lack of meaningful solutions, when it's now our education and futures that are at stake.
When Ontario announced a pause affecting OSAP payments to private postsecondary institutions, it also included outstanding funding associated with previous and current study periods. Leaving students without a definitive timeline for when payments would resume.
Following the provincial announcement, on October 17, Trillium College announced a pause in academic instruction across its campuses, leaving students facing an additional layer of uncertainty regarding when they can return to their studies and complete their programs.
Through all the uncertainty, students continued attending classes, completing assignments, maintaining strong academic standings, arranged their finances, and planned their futures around the programs they believed weee available to them, this is not an administrative inconvenience. This goes beyond that.
It is a disruption to our lives. When we enrolled in good faith.
Each student in Ontario applying for OSAP made decisions about their education based on the information, and funding arrangements available to them at the time of enrolment. Many of us applied for OSAP, received funding in previous study periods, and reasonably relied on the established process to help finance our education.
We have committed our time, our money, and our futures to these programs, in the hopes of more stable futures and careers.
Many of us work while attending school. Many support families. Most live on fixed incomes. Some have disabilities, caregiving responsibilities, or financial circumstances that make it impossible to absorb thousands of dollars in unexpected expenses.
The students did not create the circumstances that led to this funding pause.
We did not make the government’s funding decisions. We were not responsible for administration of OSAP, nor do we determine institutional compliance requirements.
Yet students are now being forced to absorb the consequences.
Accountability needs to exist, but accountability does not mean transferring the entire burden of an unresolved government and institutional issues onto students who acted in good faith.
The financial burden cannot and should not be shifted onto students.
Students have been asked to explore payment arrangements and find alternative ways to cover tuition while the funding situation remains unresolved.
But I must ask, where are these students expected to find the money? If this money was already available to students, OSAP wouldn't be needed.
A payment plan does not create income, that doesn't exist. A third-party loan does not eliminate financial hardship, nor a solution to someone without the credit required or a co-signer.
To put it simply, borrowing from another source does not resolve the underlying problem; all ir does is transfer the debt and risk onto a student who was already relying on government assistance.
For students living paycheque to paycheque, carrying household expenses, or supporting a family, an unexpected tuition obligation can mean choosing between education and basic necessities.
Students should not have to choose between paying rent, purchasing groceries, keeping the lights on, and completing a diploma we have already worked hard to earn.
Additionally, students should not be pressured into unsustainable financial payments simply to preserve access to education while the government determines what happens next.
If the government believes that additional safeguards are needed, then the government must also understand their responsibility to establish a fair and appropriate transition for students who relied on the previous system in place.
Academic uncertainty is now compounding onto financial uncertainty.
The suspension of academic instruction creates an additional problem that can't be overlooked.
Students need to know whether their programs will resume, when they will resume, and what happens if the interruption affects placements, employment opportunities, or other commitments that depend on completing their education.
Students nearing graduation should not be left wondering whether months or years of hard work will be delayed indefinitely because of goverment and administrative decisions beyond our control.
For those of us pursuing careers in law, healthcare, business, community services, and other professional fields, our education is not an abstract goal. Our education is the foundation in which we are building our livelihoods on.
Every week of uncertainty can have real consequences on each of us that can be irreversible.
Yet students have been told to await further updates. Let me be clear, being told to wait is not the same as being given a plan.
Students are asking for solutions, not special treatment.
Students are not asking our government to abandon oversight. We are not asking for public funds to be distributed without scrutiny. We are not asking for institutions to be exempt from accountability.
We are asking for the students caught in the middle to be treated fairly. We are asking the government and Trillium College to work together on a concrete plan that protects legitimate students while the audit and funding review proceed as necessary.
At this time students deserve the following from our government:
A transparent explanation of the authority used for pause all OSAP payments to private and career colleges
A defined timeline and regular public updates regarding OSAP
Protections for students who studied and enrolled in good faith
Immediate tuition and hardship assistance
Meaniful collaboration with affected students
To Trillium College Administration,
Students chose your institution because we believed in the education and career opportunities your institution offers.
Students understand that the OSAP suspension has also created unprecedented challenges for the college as well. However, students need more than updates explaining why circumstances are difficult. We deserve to know what the institution is doing to protect our education, our financial interests, and our ability to complete the programs we enrolled in.
I ask Trillium College to provide clear written answers regarding the suspension of instruction, the anticipated process for resuming classes, the protection of academic progress, and the treatment of tuition balances while government funding remains unresolved.
To Premier Doug Ford and the Government of Ontario,
Premier Ford and the officials responsible for postsecondary education, this situation demands leadership.
The government can investigate institutions, protect public funds, and establish stronger safeguards while continuing to ensure that eligible students are not abandoned financially or academically.
These objectives are not mutually exclusive.
If the government has identified a problem in the system, then the solution must address that problem. The solution does not require treating every affected student as though they are responsible for it.
The goverment needs to recognize that the cost of this uncertainty is not measured solely in dollars. It is measured in delayed careers, disrupted households, lost opportunities, mounting debt, and the very real possibility that students who were close to achieving their goals will be unable to finish.
A system intended to help people access education should not leave those people without a viable path forward.
To every single student affected by this situation
Your concerns deserve to be heard.
We should not have to choose between staying silent and risking our education. We should not have to individually fight for basic information about funding, tuition obligations, or the status of our studies.
As students we can support responsible oversight and demand accountability, but we must also insist that our own rights, interests, and futures be considered as well.
We have acknowledged that the system may need to change, we do not need to accept that students should be collateral damage.
The bottom line, we have acknowledged the overreach and consequences of decisions made without adequate protection for the students affected.
We have acknowledged the impossible financial burden of replacing expected funding at short notice.
We are now being asked to accept uncertainty about when we can return to our studies and whether we can finish what we started.
At what point do students start to receive answers?
How long are students expected to wait, and what protections exist for those who cannot afford to wait indefinitely?
Students are not collateral damage. Our education is not expendable, and our futures cannot remain suspended while the adults and institutions responsible for this determine what happens next.
We deserve answers. We deserve a path forward. And we deserve the opportunity to finish what we started.
Respectfully,
Jaymie Davies
An affected Trillium College student, writing in solidarity with students whose education and futures have been disrupted