PC government cuts tuition while making changes to OSAP grants

The Ontario government is eliminating free tuition for low-income students while it cuts post-secondary school fees.

The government announced a 10 per cent cut in tuition fees on Thursday.

“We believe that if you’ve got the grades, you deserve access to an affordable post-secondary education,” said Training, Colleges and Universities Minister Merrilee Fullerton

“By lowering tuition across the entire province, our government is ensuring that all qualified Ontario students will have more affordable access to high quality skills, training and education.”

But the move comes with some cuts to OSAP.

The previous Liberal government increased the number of grants given to post-secondary students.

It also made it possible for low-income students to attend college or university free of cost.

In her December report, Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk had raised concerns over the rising cost of Liberal plan, noting OSAP costs jumped by 25 per cent in 2017-2018.

Lysyk warned the program could cost Ontario $2 billion annually by 2020-2021.

The Tories say the Ontario Student Assistance Plan grants had become unsustainable.

“The previous government believed in handing out OSAP money to some of Ontario’s highest income earners with virtually no meaningful criteria for success,” said Fullerton.

According to Fullerton, most of the of grants will go to students whose families have an income of less than $50,000, but it’s not clear what the cut off is.

The tuition decrease will be in effect for the 2019-2020 year and will then be frozen for the following year.

The Tories are in the midst of trying to trim a deficit they peg at $14.5 billion.

The province’s financial accountability officer says the deficit is closer to $12 billion.