How ads pitched OSAP as $50K in free cash

You are eligible to get up to $50,000 with no credit check. The sales pitches for OSAP funding seem to target new immigrants. Consultants offered free laptops for using their services. And the best part, it's non-repayable. And you may qualify for the grant for up to $50,000. CBC News reached out to these companies but did not hear back before deadline. The Ontario Liberals pointed to another company that offered money for referring a friend. and said they handle the application. A spokesperson for the Colleges and Universities Minister says third-party recruiters are not permitted to apply for OSAP on behalf of any student, and that institutions are not permitted to use OSAP approval as a marketing tool, though the posts remain up. It's shocking, and I guarantee you that the government knew about this. We need someone who's actually going to take control of this absolute dumpster fire. Since the social media posts first went up, the province paused OSAP funding for all private post-secondary institutions. Last week, Minister Nolan Quinn said he'd referred information to the OPP. Fortunately, this comes down to criminal nature, criminal allegations. He said an audit uncovered concerning findings, mainly with online-only programs. One expert says pausing financial aid for the whole sector is the wrong move. They're saying they're going to cut off all the private colleges, when, again, they know that 90% of these institutions are fine. There was no problem with any of them. OSAP payments skyrocketed over the past few years to some career colleges. The Canadian Press finding students in that sector received a billion dollars in OSAP grants two years ago, more than a third going to just seven schools. The government knew that the problem was with a very small handful of private colleges and chose to attack public colleges and university students instead. He's referring to the OSAP changes the government announced in winter that angered many students. Less money for grants, more for loans that have to be paid back. The Ford government saying the system had become unsustainable. The minister should resign because this is a scandal. Protecting a few bad actor privates by going after, you know, young people without a lot of money, I mean, that's just appalling. Ontario Provincial Police say so far they're just reviewing the information on OSAP. No investigation has been launched. Ontario Liberals have also called for the minister to resign. Minister Nolan Quinn's office says the government put in that full OSAP pause for all career colleges to protect the integrity of the sector. Brenda Reddick, CBC News, Toronto.