Student groups at Carleton have spoken out about the various changes to Ontario tuition and the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) to be implemented by the 2019-2020 school year.
On Jan. 17, the government announced the removal of the free tuition program for low-income students, an opt-out option for ancillary fees paid by students in addition to tuition, and a 10 per cent decrease on post-secondary tuition costs.
According to a press release, students from households with incomes under $50,000 will no longer receive “free tuition,” and students with household incomes over $140,000 will no longer receive grants.
Kieran Moloney, president of the Carleton University Campus Conservatives, said he supports these changes.
“This was never a sustainable program to begin with,” he said.
“The students who will lose out are the better off students who were getting grants they should have never been getting,” he added. “The government is focusing the support to those who need it the most. Low-income families are able to receive grants, and students from better off backgrounds can still access loans but won’t be given a free ride.”
Moloney also said the impact of these changes on university students will be “status quo.”
“If you come from a low-income back- ground you will continue to get grants,” he said.”
Maddie Felix, a second-year psychology student, said she doesn’t agree.
“I’ve done a lot of research into the reasons why they’re changing OSAP just so I can see if there’s a valid reason to do this or if the plan is going to work,” she said. “Even with the decrease in tuition, and being able to opt out of the programs that we usually pay for, if you do the math you’re still not saving as much money as you would with those grants that allow low-income students to have free tuition.”
Felix said she is also against the changes because she will be affected by them herself. “I know for a lot of people—the loss of those grants—it’s a big deal,” she said.
“For me right now, it’s really personal because my dad—with what’s going on with General Motors—they’re pulling out of Oshawa and my dad works there—it means we’re going to go from a single-income family to a no-income family really fast until my dad can find another job, which most likely won’t be as well-paying as the job he has now,” Felix added.
“I would be qualifying for these grants that allow me to have that free tuition, and now I’m going to lose out on that,” she said, “which means I’m just going to be piling up more loans.”
Chrissy Frappier, a mature student at Carleton, said changes to OSAP may potentially affect her family.
“Low-income people with multiple children will be going more into debt, and this will prevent our children from going into post-secondary,” she said.
Frappier also said the changes will make it more difficult for mature students to think of going back to school, and will definitely add a slump to the amount she’s going to have to pay back.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has also proposed the elimination of the six- month grace period for repaying student loans.
According to Moloney, the 10 per cent decrease will “push savings onto students.”
“Most of the new spending at Carleton went to hiring administrators, bureaucrats, and educrats,” he said.
Felix said the tuition decrease will not affect students that much.
“The people who lose the most are the people with low incomes because they can barely afford tuition as it is, and now the government is taking away more money,” she said.
According to Felix, the lack of a six-month grace period will also increase the interest students pay on their loans.
“I know that six-month grace period is really going to affect me as well as other students because it allows us the kind of time we need to get on our feet and enter the workforce after graduation,” she said. “But right now, the second you walk across that graduation stage, you’re gain- ing interest on your loans, and you’re just burying yourself deeper in debt before you’ve even had the chance to go out and get a job and start earning money.”
“Without that six-month grace period with OSAP, I’m going to be collecting more interest every single day,” she added.
According to David Oladejo, Carleton University Students’ Association’s (CUSA) president, the changes to OSAP may end up affecting international students as well.
International students experienced a 6.3 per cent increase in their tuition fee this year, and one of Oladejo’s campaign promises was to put a cap on international tuition fee increases.
The 10 per cent decrease mandated by the government will not apply to international student tuition.
“With this current government it doesn’t seem like students are at the forefront of importance, so again, very unfortunate and not what we want, but we’ll continue to have our voices heard for international students,” he said.
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Photo by Jasmine Foong
