Ontario Liberal MPP Tyler Watt speaks in the legislature at Queen’s Park in Toronto on Tuesday, June 2, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
The Ontario Liberals are calling on the auditor general to look into how provincial student financial aid is being spent at private career colleges, following reports from The Canadian Press that highlighted a significant increase concentrated among a few institutions.
Tyler Watt, who critiques colleges and universities for the Liberals, has requested a value-for-money audit to assess the rising expenses and whether the government is adequately monitoring the Ontario Student Assistance Program.
“This has all the makings of Doug Ford’s next billion-dollar scandal,” Watt stated during a press conference on Monday.
Data acquired by The Canadian Press through a freedom-of-information request reveals that in 2024-25, students attending career colleges received almost $1 billion in OSAP grants. Just seven of these colleges accounted for $385 million of that total.
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From the 2023-24 academic year to 2024-25, there was an increase of $465 million in funding for Ontario Student Assistance Program grants, with 95 percent of that going to students at private career colleges, according to the data.
The office of auditor general Shelley Spence mentioned that audits for 2026 are currently underway but will consider Watt’s request when planning future audits.
This request follows multiple reports by The Canadian Press showing that applications for OSAP at certain career colleges surged compared to other institutions and publicly funded schools. Career Colleges Ontario has been alerting the provincial government about this issue for years.
In January 2023, the association representing career colleges raised concerns with the ministry regarding “indicators consistent with suspicious activity” related to OSAP applications. This was revealed in a letter submitted in court involving three schools.
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Earlier this year, Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn noted that OSAP costs were becoming “unsustainable,” leading him to significantly cut grant amounts available for students at universities and publicly funded colleges while restricting career college students solely to loans.
Watt indicated that evidence suggests rapid increases in OSAP costs seem confined to just a handful of private career colleges. This raises questions about why the government’s solution involves increasing debt burdens on students across all publicly funded institutions or forcing some students to delay their education altogether.
“Instead of targeting those few private career colleges responsible for rising OSAP expenditures, the government opted for a blunt approach which ultimately harmed everyone relying on OSAP,” he said.
“That’s either a government that’s extremely incompetent or one that’s hiding something it doesn’t want us to see.”
Zain Baig, president of Toronto Metropolitan Students’ Union, expressed concern over how students throughout Ontario have been affected by these cuts.
“Making cuts across-the-board might seem like an easy option for top officials like Doug Ford and Minister Quinn,” he said.
“But maybe they should have dedicated more resources towards conducting an independent investigation instead-looking into each case thoroughly rather than applying a blanket solution.”
Earlier this year, Quinn made five career colleges ineligible even for loans under OSAP. Three schools affiliated with one parent company have sought judicial review regarding this decision due to claims it was unfairly executed.
Court documents related to inspections reveal inspectors alleged evidence suggesting third parties were completing coursework and found instances where students finished all quizzes and exams within one day.
The three Academy of Learning locations dispute most allegations from the ministry but assert they take such concerns seriously. None of these allegations have been proven legally yet.
A statement from these schools noted they’ve implemented numerous corrective measures including tighter admission protocols and identity verification processes.
‘These include two-factor authentication as well as investigations into unusual login activities,’ wrote Academy of Learning. ‘We’ve worked extensively alongside both reviews and will continue enhancing our controls whenever issues arise.’
‘We recognize that rapid course completions need closer examination,’ acknowledged Academy while stating they’ve instituted extra monitoring before issuing exam codes.’
This report by The Canadian Press was first Oct. 5, 2026.
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