Every student in Ontario deserves the opportunity for an accessible, affordable, and high quality postsecondary education. Doug Ford has abandoned our students with years of consecutive claw backs, making the system increasingly inaccessible and unattainable. Students deserve a comprehensive, needs-based, financial aid system that ensures the cost of a postsecondary education does not come between a student and their future.
Support Ontario Students
With the high cost of living – from groceries to rent – students and prospective students have enough to worry about. Students deserve a government that will support them. A postsecondary education should be accessible to anyone who wants it.
I have heard some excellent ideas on how to make postsecondary education a reality for more students – here are the ideas that I believe Ontario Liberals should debate and consider:
- Eliminating the provincial portion of interest on OSAP loans, including for former students who are still paying off student loans.
- Increasing the annual income threshold for OSAP repayment to $40,000 and extending the grace period for the provincial portion of OSAP to two years, providing new graduates with time to find jobs and be in a better financial position to cover the cost of repayments.
- Increasing OSAP funding for all eligible students, with a particular focus on supporting low-income and underrepresented groups
- Delivering academic programs that are aligned with the needs of the labour market, hands-on training and expanded experiential learning opportunities such as co-op and paid internships.
- Increasing the provincial contribution of operating revenue to better balance our cost-sharing model.
- Supporting increased tenure-stream faculty hiring and positions, while keeping tuition fees low and ensuring the sustainability and quality of Ontario’s postsecondary institutions.
- Supporting proactive measures towards addressing sexual and gender-based violence on postsecondary campuses.
I continue to travel the province and want to hear from you. Do you have an idea? Email me.