On the Restructuring of OSAP and the End of the Tuition Freeze
The Executive Committee of the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU), representing over 22,000 graduate students across four campuses, opposes the Ontario government’s decision to restructure OSAP from a grants-based to a loans-based program and to end the seven-year tuition fees freeze. We acknowledge the $6.4 billion institutional investment as a necessary correction after years of chronic underfunding of public post-secondary education [1]. But we cannot accept that the cost of this correction is being passed on to students, particularly those least able to bear it.
The scale of the shift is severe. Starting Fall 2026, OSAP’s maximum grant proportion drops from 85% to just 25%, with a minimum of 75% now issued as repayable loans [1]. This is not a marginal adjustment. It is a structural reversal of the student financial aid model. By one estimate, the average OSAP-receiving student will graduate with over $7,200 in additional debt [2]. For many graduate students, this additional burden is already on top of debt incurred during their undergraduate studies. Further, for graduate students whose programs run longer and whose earning years are further deferred, the cumulative burden is far greater. A Master’s student relying on OSAP over two years of study, and a doctoral student over four to six, will accumulate significant debt during precisely the years they are contributing most to Ontario’s research and innovation capacity.
Graduate students face a distinct set of pressures. Many of our members are already navigating inadequate or non-existent stipends/grants and rising housing costs in Toronto, in a labour market where youth unemployment reached 14.7% in Ontario in September 2025, a 15-year high outside the pandemic years [3]. Even among young adults aged 20 to 29 holding a bachelor’s degree or higher, unemployment has climbed to 8.1% [4]. Our own Cost of Living Survey, drawing on 2,560 responses, documented the financial precarity that defines graduate life at the University of Toronto [5]. The UTGSU fought for and secured a long-overdue increase in base PhD and SJD funding to $40,000, yet implementation remains uneven, and unfunded Master’s students were excluded entirely [6]. Converting grants into loans against this backdrop does not “strengthen sustainability.” It transfers public responsibility onto the individuals who can least afford it.
The policy is also self-defeating. The Premier has urged students to pursue STEM, health care, and trades [7], fields in which graduate training is essential and tuition is highest. Students in these very programs have said the OSAP changes will make it harder to continue their studies [8]. Ontario already provides the lowest per-capita funding for post-secondary education of any province in Canada [9]. These changes do not close that gap. They redirect it onto individual students and their families.
We call on the Government of Ontario to reverse the OSAP grant-to-loan restructuring immediately and to maintain the tuition freeze until a genuinely sustainable funding model, one that does not offload costs onto students, is developed in meaningful consultation with student representatives.
We call on the University of Toronto to publicly oppose these changes, to commit to shielding students from tuition increases through expanded institutional aid, and to ensure the base funding increase is implemented equitably across all graduate programs.
The UTGSU will continue to work alongside peer students’ unions across Ontario, and our institutional partners to advocate for accessible, publicly funded graduate education. We will pursue every avenue available: at Queen’s Park, within the university, and in coalition with rank and file students province-wide.
Our members deserve better. Ontario’s future depends on it.
The Executive Committee of the UTGSU
Contact: president@utgsu.ca
References
[1] Ontario Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security, “Ontario’s Plan for Long-Term Sustainability in Post-Secondary Education,” February 12, 2026. Reported in CBC News, “Tuition set to rise, OSAP grants lower with new Ontario post-secondary funding changes,” February 12, 2026.
[2] Central Student Association, University of Guelph. Reported in GuelphToday, “Students concerned about rising debt burdens amid Ontario OSAP, tuition changes,” February 13, 2026.
[3] Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey, December 2025. See also CCPA, “Youth unemployment is approaching a boiling point in Ontario,” November 2025.
[4] Career Edge, “How Can You Turn Youth Employment Crisis Into Opportunity,” citing Statistics Canada data, September 2025.
[5] UTGSU Cost of Living Survey, 2023-2025.
[6] UTGSU, “40k is 40k, Statement regarding Base Funding Increase,” 2025.
[7] CBC News, “Ford continues to defend OSAP cuts despite student outcry,” February 18, 2026.
[8] CBC News, “‘I’m a guy trying to be a nurse’: Why Ford’s OSAP changes may make it harder to get in-demand jobs,” February 19, 2026.
[9] Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario, Media Release, February 12, 2026. See also Ontario Green Party, “Reverse the OSAP Cuts,” February 2026.