40% Post-Secondary Ontario Students Granted Free Tuition, New CBC Research Reveals

CBC News has published the never before seen data on the free tuition program for low-income students that got cancelled by the Ontario government. This has coused quite a commotion as students gathered on a rally to fight for free tuition in Queens Park Monday. The Typical Student team learned the details. 

Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) Program: Key Facts

Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) program was created in March 2017. Accordng to CBC, OSAP covered the average college or university tuition of students from low-families ($50,000 or less annually). Also, particular students from families with incomes of up to $83,000 are eligible for the non-repayable grants. Despite OSAP was announced as free, the recipients had to cover extra costs such as books and living expenses. 

How Many Students Got OSAP Grants?

All in all, 234,000 students in Ontario got grants under the program in the first year. That makes 40% of the full-time, domestic student enrolment of 593,296. CBC reports that the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities "could not provide comparative figures for the school year 2018-19, as it is still ongoing."

Despite all of the benefits received by Canadian students, the current Conservative government ended the program because it was "unsustainable," and cost $1.4B in the first year of launch. Now, students are expected to take their protest to the streets.