Second career college court challenge reveals concerns about ‘bona fide studies’

Ontario’s colleges and universities ministry is alleging it could not “reliably determine bona fide studies” at two of the career colleges it barred from student financial aid — a decision those schools are now challenging in court.

Two campuses of Citi College of Canadian Careers are among six schools the province blocked from the Ontario Student Assistance Program in May for the 2026-27 year, alleging “high-risk admissions” practices and other concerns.

They have filed an application in Divisional Court asking for a judicial review of that decision, similar to a court challenge by three Academy of Learning locations affected by the May order.

Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn did not base his decision on a “rational chain of analysis” connecting evidence to the ministry’s conclusions, and the order does not refer to any specific instances of alleged non-compliance, Citi College wrote in its court challenge.

“In making the decision, the minister reached findings regarding ‘compromised participation,’ ‘inadequate attendance tracking,’ and ‘inability to reliably determine bona fide studies’ that are not justified, transparent, or intelligible, having regard to the ministry’s own prior approvals … and the systems and safeguards Citi College had previously implemented,” the school wrote.

Citi College had been approved to administer OSAP in each of the preceding 20 years, they wrote, and two audits by the ministry last year “concluded without adverse findings.” The ministry’s allegations have not been tested or proven in court.

Quinn’s decisions to bar the six schools from receiving OSAP this year come after Career Colleges Ontario had been warning for years about possible “suspicious” OSAP activity at a small number of schools.

The minister announced last week that KPMG started an audit in August of OSAP at career colleges and he referred the matter to the Ontario Provincial Police based on “serious concerns” uncovered in the audit’s preliminary findings. He did not name the colleges that were the subject of the concerns referred to police.

Citi College is not aware of being subject to any issues raised by KPMG or the OPP referral, its lawyer said.

A January 2025 letter from Career Colleges Ontario to the government highlights what it calls concerning increases in OSAP usage at 10 schools, including one school that saw a nearly 2,700 per cent increase in two years. The letter was filed as part of the Academy of Learning court challenge, and all of the schools listed except for Academy of Learning are redacted, so it is not known if Citi College was included.

Data obtained by The Canadian Press through a freedom-of-information request earlier this year shows that Citi College’s two campuses had about 133 people on OSAP in 2021-22, and three years later that rose to 1,754 students, an increase of about 1,200 per cent.

A lawyer for Citi College said in a statement Wednesday to The Canadian Press about the judicial review application that the school “continues to maintain compliance with its regulatory obligations and support its existing students in completing their programs.”

Harris Rosen also wrote in a previous statement about the OSAP increases that a more accurate calculation would use a pre-pandemic figure and rely on a compound annual growth rate, in which case Citi College would have been at about 38 per cent per year.

“The percentage increase you’ve cited appears substantial largely because it is calculated from a relatively low 2021–22 base,” Rosen wrote.

“When that figure is considered alongside the expansion of online education, broader geographic accessibility, and the relatively short duration of my client’s programs, Citi does not believe the growth is as unusual as the percentage alone may suggest.”

In the court application, Citi College argues that the minister unfairly assessed the school based on new “technological and monitoring expectations” that weren’t previously communicated to them.

Those included continuous webcam participation, long-term IP retention, forensic IP analytics, and VPN prohibitions, Citi College wrote.

When Quinn announced last week that he had referred concerns to the OPP, he said many had centred around online-only programs. This fall, the government will introduce legislation to exclude predominantly online programs at private career colleges from OSAP eligibility.

In the meantime, Quinn has also paused OSAP payments at all private post-secondary institutions.