Students disappointed by Ontario’s cuts to OSAP grants, tuition freeze lift

Students work out math problems on the blackboard at the University of Toronto, on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

Post-secondary students in Ontario say the government’s decision to reduce financial assistance grants while lifting a long-standing tuition fee freeze will leave students who are already struggling financially with more debt.

The government said last week that it will decrease the proportion of grants offered through the Ontario Student Assistance Program from about 85 per cent of funding to a maximum of 25 per cent in the fall, making the rest student loans.

The government is also lifting a seven-year tuition fee freeze to allow colleges and universities to raise fees by up to two per cent per year for the next three years.

Alex Stratas of the student union at the University of Ottawa says the changes in OSAP structure are devastating for students who rely on the program’s grants to pay for food, housing and tuition.

Stratas, a fourth-year political science and communications student, says she and many others couldn’t afford school without those grants because they don’t have enough financial support from family, and the move sends a message that the government doesn’t care to make students’ lives more affordable.

Husam Morra, the president of University of Windsor Students’ Alliance, says students are already facing an affordability crisis and the tuition fee and financial assistance program changes will make education less accessible.

Morra, a fourth-year computer science student, says the changes will impact students even after graduation as they will have to pay back larger loans.

The changes announced by the government came with an additional $6.4 billion for the post-secondary sector over four years, following a funding formula review and a strong push from cash-strapped colleges and universities.

Ontario universities and colleges have long faced low levels of government funding, stagnant tuition levels since 2019 and sharply reduced numbers of international students, who are charged far higher tuition fees than domestic students.

Colleges in particular increasingly turned to international student tuition revenue to stabilize finances after the government cut tuition fees by 10 per cent and froze them at that level seven years ago.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 16, 2026.

Maan Alhmidi, The Canadian Press