8 private career colleges inspected by province in OSAP probe

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Investigators from the province started in-person inspections at eight private career colleges in Ontario last week, looking for possible evidence of “irregularities or fraud.”

The government is looking into the alleged criminal use of the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP).

“Last week, MCURES (Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security) investigators began in-person inspections at eight private career colleges,” the ministry said in a news release. “At that time, our investigators successfully gathered information and interviewed individuals at these career colleges. MCURES’ investigation goes beyond the career colleges that have been inspected to date, and extends to the sector as a whole.”

Earlier this month, the Ford government said students at all 242 private career colleges in Ontario would be prohibited from accessing OSAP funding as it investigated “serious concerns” raised by Ottawa, advocacy groups and internal audits and inspections.

The province alleged that some private career colleges were co-owned by immigration services and recruitment firms, couldn’t validate students or verify they were actually enrolled in courses, and there was a “high concentration of OSAP applications” from the same geographic locations.

Legal battles launched by some schools

The complete OSAP suspension, however, has not sat well with college administrators and some schools, including Citi College, have launched legal battles to get the courts to overturn the decision to suspend the OSAP program.

While the Ford government said the pleas from colleges and students are “not lost on us,” the province will only revive OSAP access once “integrity to the system” has been restored.

“We are working to develop a strengthened validation process for private postsecondary institutions associated with OSAP approvals for the 2026-27 academic year,” the province said in its news release. “This process is expected to be implemented in the new year. OSAP will not resume for private postsecondary institutions until the strengthened validation process is in place.”

The OSAP findings, uncovered by external audit firm KMPG, have been referred to the Ontario Provincial Police for an official investigation. Documents are being reviewed, but provincial police have not yet announced the results of its own probe.

Meanwhile, 50,000 students, innocent of any wrongdoing and not being investigated, find themselves without funding for their schooling and a potential resolution in 2026 has now been pushed off to 2027.

Still, the province said it is “working on program criteria for banks and financial institutions that could facilitate third-party loans for students.”

However, some of the private colleges — which turn out thousands of people every year successfully into careers as dental assistants, drug counsellors, faith-based workers, ballet dancers, music and film and radio and TV technicians, medical technologists and PSWs — are now laying people off and setting up food banks.

– with files from Joe Warmington

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