Student Financial Aid /

Insufficient Data Collection The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) does not collect and report data to track the success of OSAP and its recipients, and this lack of OSAP data can impede policy change and delay improvements to the program. [...] They should also collaborate with the Council of Ontario Universities (COU) to develop a feature that allows students to easily apply for grants and bursaries through the OSAP website, and this feature should prompt students to apply for grants and loans that they are eligible for based on their OSAP application. [...] The provincial government should incentivize and provide funding to institutions to hire and retain financial counsellors, and to provide workshops on financial literacy topics for first-year students living on their own for the first time. [...] The government should also ensure the continuation of the Student Access Guarantee (SAG) program, which provides additional grants and loans to students who do not have the ability to pay for tuition due to circumstances that are either unlikely or not considered by OSAP; the government should also create a loan program to provide funding for students in said circumstances. [...] Prior to the 2019 announcement by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU), the Office of the Auditor General of Ontario released its Annual Report in the Fall of 2018.