Students at an Ottawa fashion school are waiting to hear if they will qualify for OSAP, even after classes have begun. The delay in getting student loans is creating a wrinkle in Tamar Raslan’s dream of becoming a fashion designer. “It’s been my dream for so long,” she tells CTV News Ottawa. “I am constantly worried about my tuition and whether I’m going to be receiving my OSAP funding.” She’s in her second year as a student at Ottawa’s Richard Robinson Academy of Fashion Design, an Ontario Registered Career College, according to the school. Although classes have started, she says her OSAP status is unknown. “No information, no timeline. We don’t know nothing. I don’t know if I’m going to get it or not,” she says. “It’s been, more than just stressful for me.” Before she gets the go-ahead, the school needs to be approved for OSAP eligibility. “Each year an institution—so, a private career college—will be approved on a yearly basis,” says Renée Berezowski, president of the Richard Robinson Fashion Design Academy. “That approval is typically done in July of the school year, before the school year. And this year, we haven’t had any communication at all. And we’re still currently sitting with, a non-approved.” Berezowski says since taking over in 2020, this is the first time this has happened. “What it means for the students is that they don’t have access to funding right now,” she says. “I did provide an alternate plan to my students where they could do a different payment plan. That was something that I sort of came up with by myself because we’ve had no guidance.” Berezowski says one student left the program as a result. “The stress was just too much. The unknown was just too much, so they had to unfortunately, withdraw.” CTV News has reached out to the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities for comment. Last February, the Ford government overhauled the OSAP program, cutting down on grants and putting a greater emphasis on loans.
