Ontario was warned of ‘suspicious’ OSAP activity at a few career colleges: documents

Career Colleges Ontario began alerting the government about potential "suspicious" student financial aid activity at several career college campuses three years ago, as revealed by internal documents. The organization repeatedly urged the government to involve law enforcement regarding these concerns, though the specifics of the issues and institutions remain unclear.

In a court challenge, the association filed two letters to the Ministry of Colleges and Universities, expressing alarm over "indicators consistent with suspicious activity" in OSAP applications since January 2023. At a subsequent meeting, Career Colleges Ontario requested that related concerns be referred to law enforcement, though the outcome of those investigations is unknown.

Analysis of data from 2022 to 2024 by Career Colleges Ontario showed that 10 schools experienced anomalous enrollment surges, with one school seeing an astonishing 2,700 percent increase in applications. This surge, coupled with reports of eligibility misrepresentation and misuse of OSAP funds, prompted the ministry to suspend OSAP eligibility for five career college campuses.

Critics argue that the government's oversight of career colleges has been insufficient, allowing these institutions to capitalize on a surge in student financial aid and subsequently face harsh penalties. The government has since implemented stricter measures, including barring career college students from accessing grants and reducing the amount of grants available to students at universities and publicly funded colleges.