OSAP pause may force dental college to close, school says

An Ontario career college that has trained dental hygienists and dental assistants for 22 years may have to close as early as next month, due to a provincewide pause on student financial aid in the sector.

Tuition at Southern Ontario Dental College in Hamilton is high, due to the technical programs students describe as rigorous and hands-on, and as a result most of the students rely on Ontario Student Assistance Program funding.

But Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn last month stopped OSAP payments to all private post-secondary institution students due to what he calls serious concerns unearthed in the early stages of a sector-wide audit.

He has indicated the pause will continue into the new year, but Southern Ontario Dental College says it may not last until then without alternate funding.

“If we continue to go right now the way that we’re going without collecting any money from the students, we’ll have to close our doors probably in December,” said Alysse Estrabillo, the school’s chief operating officer.

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For now, the students have set up a food bank in a room at the college to help each other out, she said.

Haylie Eady, a dental hygienist student and single mom, does not know how she could pay the tuition of nearly $52,000 for the two-year program, and she was also depending on an OSAP loan to pay living expenses like child care, food and rent.

She quit her dental assistant job to go back to school and upgrade her skills, but is now taking odd jobs she finds through Facebook ads so she can provide for her children. Eady just recently received a notice of non-payment of rent, though she is hopeful that will be resolved.

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“I want a career where I can make a difference, not only in the community but in my home, so that my kids never have to worry about a single thing,” Eady said.

“I feel like, in trying to make that step, I was put in a position to make them have to worry about when their next meal is going to be. … My kids have dreams too, and it leaves parents feeling like maybe they put their dreams ahead of their kids.”

Quinn has said the government is trying to secure third-party loans through financial institutions while the pause is ongoing, but he has not given any updates since making that announcement one month ago.

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A spokesperson said evidence of systemic issues left the government with no choice but to pause OSAP payments to all private institutions to ensure the integrity of the system.

“We recognize the impact that this pause is having on students and are working to develop options for low-interest, third-party loans facilitated by financial institutions to support students through this period of transition,” Bianca Giacoboni wrote in a statement.

Between 2023-24 and 2024-25, the amount of provincial OSAP grants to career colleges nearly doubled, to about $1 billion in the latter year. That was largely due to activity at a small number of career colleges, according to data obtained by The Canadian Press through a freedom-of-information request.

The ministry alleges that some of those schools were unable to verify students were attending class or completing their own coursework, allegations the schools deny.

Many other schools and students are left wondering why the government has not taken a more targeted approach to rooting out possible abuse in the system. Premier Doug Ford has said the KPMG auditors have been asked to prioritize clearing low-risk schools first, but students like Eady wonder why their schools were cut off at all.

She and her fellow students had to meet certain criteria to apply, then do an interview and skills testing, she said.

“We all fought so unbelievably hard just to sit in a seat in that room,” Eady said.

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Estrabillo said the school never imagined OSAP would just suddenly one day stop.

“People come to our college and want to be educated, and they’re so excited to learn,” she said. “We’ve graduated so many classes in 22 years, and to think that would stop because of this just is unfathomable to me.”

With the college facing closure, the OSAP pause is affecting even the students who never applied for the loans.

Diane Yu is one of those students, now in her second year of the dental hygiene program, and she worries that the OSAP pause and potential school closure could derail her career path.

“It’s pretty devastating,” she said.

“This is my third term and I only have one left after this. I wanted to only focus on my board exam and the clinical hours. This is the most important time of this education and this is the worst timing to face this issue.”

Career Colleges Ontario said it couldn’t comment on specific cases, but a spokesperson said there is every reason to believe that more stories of schools facing closure will emerge.

“The ongoing OSAP pause is creating significant uncertainty across the sector, with schools facing mounting pressure and no clear timeline for when students’ funding will resume,” Taylor Buck wrote in a statement.

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“The longer this uncertainty continues, the harder decisions schools will be forced to make, and ultimately students will bear the consequences.”