Ontario looks to cracks down on OSAP abuse in new proposed legislation

This legislation would enhance student identity verification, meaning schools would need to meet higher standards to prove legitimate students are enrolled and properly completing coursework. We'd also be introducing higher key performance indicators for OSAP, meaning our institutions that want to keep and get OSAP eligibility will need to be producing higher quality graduates. And we would establish an automatic threshold for irregularities that would trigger an audit at a private institution. Further, we will be putting a cap on OSAP-funded enrolment at private institutions and removing OSAP eligibility from predominantly online courses. With these measures, along with the many others within this legislation, We will ensure OSAP supports the students and institutions it was designed to serve while upholding Ontario's high standards for post-secondary education. The second objective of this legislation is to enhance enforcement powers and student protection in the career college sector. This would include giving the province the authority to recover OSAP funding from private institutions by holding them liable for misuse, requiring career colleges to to disclose any and all third-party relationships such as those with immigration firms and recruiters. Banning career colleges from operating unrelated businesses on their campuses like immigration firms. Next, this legislation will give the superintendent of career colleges the authority to intervene earlier if an institution fails to deliver their programs in a way that meets the high standards we expect for students. We would also require career colleges to transparently And accessibly publish all enforcement actions taken against them. And lastly, every single violation or contravention of the act by an institution would now be met with a financial penalty.