Funding for the Ontario Trillium Scholarships program for international PhD students will be cut if the province elects a Progressive Conservative government, according to the Canadian University Press.
Ontario PC Party leader Tim Hudak announced that the $30 million currently allocated to the Trillium Scholarships would be given to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP), to be redistributed to middle class students who have a difficult time accessing financial aid, according to the Canadian University Press.
“Incredibly, [Premier] Dalton McGuinty’s priority was to spend taxpayer dollars to the tune of $40,000 a year on scholarships available only to students from another country. Ontario families need not apply,” Hudak told the Toronto Sun.
Spearheaded by McGuinty, the Trillium Scholarship began this fall to attract the best PhD students from around the world, by providing them with $40,000 in funding annually for four years. Amongst other requirements, the students have to demonstrate financial need.
Robert Dekker, the Conservative candidate for Ottawa-Centre, said with the redistribution of funding, the Conservatives will “invest more into Ontario students to allow them a greater opportunity to get into a secondary school.”
“We want to increase the spaces by up to 60,000 in post-secondary schools,” Dekker said. “I think we really want to reinvest the $30 million into Ontario students to ensure they can get ahead, get degrees and employment.”
Some international students aren’t happy with the announcement.
“It’s a disappointment because there aren’t a lot of opportunities for international students,” said Zandile Chiwanza, an international undergraduate student studying journalism at Carleton University.
She noted how difficult it is to get scholarships and bursaries, and though she aspires to obtain her doctorate, she said she will wait until later in life.
“Right now it’s literally from all family pulling together, trying to send me to school. I’m not funded by anyone right now,” Chiwanza said.
Sandy Hudson, chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario, said there isn’t much financial aid accessible to international students so the Trillium Scholarship is a great opportunity for students.
“There’s no provincial or national money allocated for international students . . . it all depends on the university. This has a great impact on what kind of international students can come to study in Canada,” Hudson said.
Hudson acknowledged a great need for middle class students to gain better access to OSAP but taking the funding from the Trillium Scholarship Program could prevent those students from returning to school and finishing their doctorates, she said.
Yasir Naqvi, the Liberal MPP representing Ottawa Centre, said the Ontario Liberal Party supports both the Trillium Scholarships and making post-secondary education more accessible to everyone in Ontario, including the middle class.
“One effort is to continue to grow our economy and get the best and brightest to do their work and research here as a part of our economy. [The Trillium Scholarship] is a small amount of money in terms of grants and scholarships,” Naqvi said.
Naqvi pointed to the increased qualifications for OSAP, which allows middle class students to access the loan, where before they could not.
“I think what’s telling is Mr. Hudak and his party have an aversion to anything foreign. If you’re going to create an economy that is the best and the brightest globally, we need the best and the brightest here,” said Naqvi.
