The Ontario government considered allowing personal support worker (PSW) students enrolled at private career colleges to continue receiving Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) grants, despite its broader decision to eliminate grants for students attending private career colleges.
According to an internal government memo obtained by The Trillium, senior officials were exploring an exemption for PSW students when the Ford government announced sweeping OSAP changes on February 12. The new policy, which takes effect on August 1, will make students at private career colleges eligible only for OSAP loans, while grants will no longer be available.
In a letter to Career Colleges Ontario, Assistant Deputy Minister Jeff Butler indicated that the government was working on a solution that would allow PSW students at private career colleges to continue receiving grant funding for the upcoming academic year. However, no further public announcements have been made since then.
When asked whether the exemption is still under consideration, a spokesperson for Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn did not directly confirm or deny the plan. Instead, the ministry emphasized that the government continues to invest in health-care workforce development through initiatives such as the PSW Learn and Earn program and the PSW Practical Nurse Learn and Earn program, which help existing long-term care staff train as personal support workers and assist PSWs in becoming registered practical nurses.
The uncertainty comes as Ontario continues to face significant staffing shortages in the health-care sector. The province’s Financial Accountability Office previously estimated that Ontario could lose nearly 1,800 personal support workers by the 2027-28 fiscal year, raising concerns about the ability of long-term care homes and home-care services to meet the needs of an aging population.
Labour organizations argue that the shortage is being driven by low wages, limited benefits and challenging working conditions. Debra Maxfield, Chair of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario Health Care Workers Coordinating Committee, said Ontario urgently needs more PSWs and warned that retention has become a serious problem across both long-term care and home-care sectors. She stressed that the profession requires highly skilled, physically demanding and emotionally challenging work that deserves better recognition and compensation. She also maintained that PSWs should be trained through adequately funded public colleges.
While students pursuing PSW programs at public colleges will continue to qualify for both OSAP grants and loans, they too will receive reduced financial assistance. As part of the government’s reforms, the maximum proportion of OSAP assistance provided as grants for students attending public colleges and universities has been reduced from 85 per cent to 25 per cent, with the remaining support offered through repayable student loans.
Government data obtained by The Trillium indicates that spending on OSAP grants for students at publicly funded colleges and universities has remained relatively stable over the past eight years. In contrast, grant funding provided to students attending private career colleges has increased sharply, a trend that officials have identified as one of the key reasons behind the government’s decision to restructure the OSAP program.
With the new funding rules set to take effect on August 1, students, educational institutions and health-care organizations continue to await clarification on whether PSW students at private career colleges will ultimately receive a special exemption from the grant cuts.