TORONTO — The Ontario Liberals are asking the auditor general to investigate provincial student financial aid spending at private career colleges, after reporting by The Canadian Press showed a rapid increase concentrated within a small number of schools. Liberal colleges and universities critic Tyler Watt requested a value-for-money audit, looking at the spending increases and whether the government was properly overseeing the Ontario Student Assistance Program. “This has all the makings of Doug Ford’s next billion-dollar scandal,” Watt said Monday at a press conference. Data obtained by The Canadian Press through a freedom-of-information request shows that in 2024-25, career college students received nearly $1 billion in OSAP grants. Just seven career colleges accounted for $385 million of that funding. Between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 academic years, the province spent $465 million more on Ontario Student Assistance Program grants, and 95 per cent of that went to private career college students, the data showed. Auditor general Shelley Spence’s office said all 2026 audits are underway, but it would take Watt’s request into account for future audit planning. The request comes after a series of stories by The Canadian Press showed that OSAP applications at a few career colleges far outpaced the rest of those institutions and publicly funded colleges and universities, and that Career Colleges Ontario has warned the provincial government for years about that. The association representing career colleges raised concerns with the ministry about “indicators consistent with suspicious activity” in OSAP applications in January 2023, according to a letter filed in court in a case involving three schools. Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn earlier this year said the cost of OSAP was becoming “unsustainable” and dramatically reduced the amount of grants that students at universities and publicly funded colleges can receive, while also making career college students only eligible for loans. Watt said the evidence seems to suggest the issue of rapidly growing OSAP costs was limited to a small number of private career colleges, and raises the question of why the government response involves students at all publicly funded institutions taking on more debt to fund their education – or in some cases delaying their schooling. “Instead of cracking down on the dozen or so private career colleges at the centre of OSAP spending increases, the government took a hatchet to a problem that required a scalpel, and it ruined OSAP for everyone,” he said. “That’s either a government that is grossly incompetent, or one that has something it desperately wants to hide.” Quinn earlier this year made five career colleges ineligible even for OSAP loans, and three of the schools – which share a parent company – have asked the courts for a judicial review of that decision, alleging it was procedurally unfair. Ministry inspection reports filed in court as part of that case show inspectors alleged they found evidence suggesting third parties were completing the coursework, and students who completed all of a course’s quizzes and exams in a single day. The three Academy of Learning locations deny most of the ministry’s allegations, saying they have taken concerns seriously. None of the findings and allegations from either level of government have been proven in court. A statement from the schools said it has implemented dozens of corrective actions, including stricter admission and identity verification controls. “These include two-factor authentication and investigation of unusual login activity,” the Academy of Learning wrote. “We have co-operated extensively with both reviews and will continue to strengthen our controls wherever issues are identified.” The instances of unusually rapid completion of courses warrants review, the Academy acknowledged, and said it has implemented additional monitoring of files before exam codes are issued. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2026. Allison Jones, The Canadian Press
