University of Windsor students join province-wide walkout over OSAP cuts

United we'll never be defeated Almost 150 University of Windsor students walked out of classes today. It's part of a provincial-wide protest against grant changes to Ontario's student loan program, which they say will leave them further in debt. I just applied to law school, and I don't know how I'm going to pay off my loans because now I don't know how that funding is going to work. And that's not only a reality for myself, but that's a reality for every single student, whether in college or university, or just trying to get a degree is currently facing. The province used to give students up to 85% of their Ontario Student Assistance funding in the form of non-repayable grants. Now the grant portion maxes out at 25%. The rest needs to be repaid. Protesters say that's unacceptable at a time of economic uncertainty. These grants were really the lifeblood for students that were in middle or lower class incomes, income families looking to attend higher education. These grants are really what allow them to be in that place and those are the exact people that these cuts hurt the most. As it stands, student loans were already a huge, huge problem for students to pay off and now if they're more than tripled, it's going to take... So much more time, and I don't think that that's fair. The province previously defended the changes, highlighting $6.4 billion for Ontario's post-secondary institutions. But student union leadership says Ontario needs to be consulting all parties who are affected by its changes. Justin Escoto, CBC News, Windsor.