r/osap • u/Better_Context_635 • 10d ago
Question Osap letter
Did anyone else receive this? What exactly does this mean?it read
You are receiving this message because you applied for Osap and attend full time in a private post secondary school. At this time all payments are temporally paused.
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u/Army7547 10d ago
A lot of people are going to get screwed because scammers found holes in the OSAP process with some of the private colleges and some student committing fraud, and it’s all getting shut down to investigate and stop the bleeding.
Some places were using students to get money from OSAP to bolster their numbers and make money, some students getting money and withdrawing, some being enrolled and never showing to class at all, it’s part of a bigger scam to take the government’s money (our money) under false pretenses.
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u/PandaSufficient2754 10d ago
Tax payers money. I’m so annoyed as my 17 yr old should be going to university next year and I can’t afford it so I was relying on OSAP but looks like he won’t get any or enough to cover the tuition. I want to help everyone but if my money is being taken and misused I’d rather use it for my kid’s education.
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u/HatchingCougar 10d ago
? Universities are not affected by this, nor are the public colleges
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u/q__e__d 10d ago
The government was citing how osap costs were getting massive as the reason why they were changing it to become way more loans than grants + now people are also getting reduced amounts. But it turns out from the stats that more osap funding was going to private colleges than all the public colleges & universities combined despite the public schools having 3.5x more students getting funding.
I'd call that being affected.
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u/HatchingCougar 10d ago edited 10d ago
You’re conflating two different things
Total funding = 25% grant + 75% loan
Is the only change which affects University & public college students
Their overall entitlement, is inflation adjusted every year (but there can be lags, if inflation is very high)
The entitlement to either the grant, loan or the entitlement formula for each hasn’t changed for the above students (only the grant to loan ratio).
These formulas have pretty much remained static since OSAP was created
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The private colleges are implicated in OSAP scams, with the worst of them aka “Diploma Mills” running scams more than the others
The OSAP program eligibility has been paused & some schools delisted because of it
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Furthermore, the scandal is not that it costs the Province X amount of $, to send students to public college or university every year
But rather with the private schools, it was costing the province exponentially more … with a high degree of scams (largely tied to immigration fraud).
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u/squirtle1990_ 10d ago
There are so many private colleges that I know of that are not legitimate , funelling osap funds - this is why they are stoping all funding to private collages - they need to figure out what schools are legit and which ones are straight up fraudulent
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u/Food-Wine 10d ago
There is an investigation into private institutions and all OSAP funds are paused for an unspecified amount of time.
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u/Fragrant_Performer_1 10d ago
I am fed up with this government, why do they have to keep doing this to people? I can barelg pay my bills, and they make getting a loan harder than a student loan.
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u/CoffeeCatsandPixies 10d ago
Just remember. This latest stunt is a documented flat out lie. He said in July to multiple media outlets it would only affect the Ontario portion of the student grant.
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u/Big-Notice-7475 10d ago
I spoke to my financial aid and she said to not be worried they are confident and to continue turning on everyday and being in class with the camera turned on.. and she told me there will be no third party loans that they will get osap funding sooner or later so I’m not sure what to do. I think maybe their confidence is a good sign ?
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u/CoffeeCatsandPixies 10d ago
The schools have 0 guidance on this. My financial aid messaged everyone this morning and basically said "we don't know" "we will tell you when we know"
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u/Lower-Bottle6362 9d ago
They are telling you what they know you want to hear because they want to keep your money. They have zero reason to be this confident and they are lying to you.
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u/therecklesstemptress 10d ago
I haven’t received anything from osap yet but I got an email from my school about it this morning. I’m already almost halfway through my program and now I don’t know if I’ll be able to finish. The email just basically said as others stated, we don’t really know and when we do, we will let you know.
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u/Better_Context_635 10d ago
Same here I’m pretty much half way done so I’m not sure what I’m gunna do
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u/michaelsmith2001 10d ago
From what I'm reading 7 private colleges received $385 Million in grants which is about the same received by all 24 publicly funded colleges combined. They want to investigate problems with student/course verification, unusually concentrated applications, and connections between colleges and immigration-service businesses.
I hope this leads to real accountability and meaningful changes rather than simply being forgotten once the headlines die down.
I also suspect with enough people there will be class action lawsuit.
Young Canadians were told they qualified for OSAP, then to hold off, and now, after doing everything correctly they are being denied.
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u/CoffeeCatsandPixies 10d ago
So they should have cut off OSAP to those 7 schools. Not fucked over every single student across the province trying to get an education.
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u/PandaSufficient2754 10d ago
Those 7 are enough to trigger further investigation. Just because they confirmed those 7 doesn’t mean they are the only ones, it’s just means they were the ones confirmed early.
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u/CoffeeCatsandPixies 10d ago
And yet more than 7 public colleges were found to be abusing the international student program and they're still OSAP qualified.
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u/PandaSufficient2754 10d ago
Sounds like two different issues though. How did they abuse that program?
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u/CoffeeCatsandPixies 10d ago
It's not. Ford is accusing private colleges of abusing the same program
The audit of public colleges found:
- widespread high failure to attend rates
-failures to report no show and enrollment data for up to 20% of international students
-failure to track or fraudulent representation of English proficiency
-overenrollment of international students above student visa caps
-failure to follow up on confirmed fraudulent enrollments
-153,000 international students across Ontario were red-flagged for academic dishonesty, rule violations and failure to attend classes. Public colleges only investigated 4,000
-public colleges were caught partnering with immigration agencies promising PR for completed programs
-it was found that multiple international students were using third parties to complete courses for them including having third parties present fake ID to write proctored exams.
- rampant violations of student work permits
All of these were confirmed and referred to the OPP with no interruptions in OSAP funding for domestic students. Why should we be treated any differently?
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u/Negative_Battle4931 10d ago
So Public colleges are the next option for new students?
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u/PandaSufficient2754 10d ago
I wonder how this would work now, Because the admissions deadlines for the public colleges are probably done now. What do they expect students to do? Even those who can make it, it’s a long process to enroll in a program at a public college. Those interested should probably start looking into it sooner than later.
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u/CoffeeCatsandPixies 7d ago
I'm screwed. I'm in a bridge program from the public addictions worker certification to licensed addictions counsellor. Our licensing board only administers that bridge course through 1 private college in Ontario and 3 private colleges nationwide. All 3 are audited by that board yearly, both school and program content and student success at the licensing exam. What is Dougie gonna find that a federal licensing board wouldn't have already found and acted on?
My only other option for this course is to go out of Canada for it. It's a public option in the US under their licensing boards.
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u/Empty_Praline2550 10d ago
I just got the message and I’m so annoyed. I had no idea how much fraud other “students” were committing to the point that it affects the rest of us? Ive looked into switching my accounting & bookkeeping program to a public college but those don’t start till January and aren’t remote like I was hoping. So now I’m kinda stuck and not know what to do since even my financial aid office is in the dark about this whole situation
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u/ALFA-THE-MASTER 10d ago
Not students colleges
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u/Empty_Praline2550 10d ago
It is a good amount of students and even ones I personally met that knew the fraud these colleges were doing because they were in on it. It’s he new age scheme to “get rich quick” it may have been 7 colleges but it was thousands of “student” committing fraud
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u/Smokedro187 10d ago
Man gov spending like it’s unlimited on stupid ahh shit but when it comes actual things that matter, they don’t gaf…Canada is so cooked
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10d ago
[deleted]
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u/PandaSufficient2754 10d ago
That can’t be true. Not for career colleges at least. Plus, OSAP only applies for citizens and PR holders.
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u/aeidon1789 10d ago
All private college student got it. Basically you're sol for OSAP while the government deals with private colleges misusing OSAP funds, and they have no estimation on when the funds will be released. Contact your financial aid office and see what they're doing, some are going to be offering extra loans or payment plans. Worst case people may need to transfer to a different college or withdraw