OSAP: What You Need to Know

by Noemi Piñeyro Ormazábal

The Announcement

On February 12th, 2026 the Ford government announced 3 major changes to the post-secondary sector. First, they are ending the seven-year tuition freeze, which allows institutions to raise their tuition by 2% for 3 years. Secondly, they are allocating $6.4 billion into post-secondary education institutions. The third announcement is major changes to OSAP’s (Ontario Student Assistance Program) ratio between loans and grants. Previously, students were eligible for a grant up to 85% and loans of minimum 15% of their tuition. For the 2026-2027 school year OSAP students will now receive grants of maximum 25% and loans of minimum 75% of their tuition.

CFS Ontario Response

After the announcement, the Canadian Federation of Students Ontario (CFS-O) released a Hands Off! Emailer and announced an organizing call and a town hall on Thursday February 19th at 11:00 am.

The Call

The start of the call was about situating our movement against the OSAP cuts in the shared history of student struggle, and recognizing that this change is not an isolated incident.

Regarding the Ford government’s announcements, the CFS-O said in the call that historically big announcements usually follow big exceptions and that we won’t know all the details about how the changes will affect post-secondary education until the provincial government is back on March 23rd 2026 from their 14 week vacation.

CFS-O says that the $6.4B that is being allocated into post-secondary institutions is not adequate for the years of underfunding. This underfunding, they remark, has been put on the shoulders of international students for years, unfairly charging thousands more in tuition to sustain post-secondary institutions.

The CFS-O focused heavily on building a sustainable movement that lasts. We cannot confuse tactics with goals—this was specifically said about calls for a strike, as strikes take years of planning and are one of many ways of protesting. If a strike is called, it will be done strategically to maximize its impact and longevity.

Finally, CFS-O said that “We have allies in Queen’s Park, but the power is in the students.” Meaning that we can’t rely on MPPs. We have to organize locally, not let politicians bandwagon this movement, and meet people (students, profesors, parents) where they’re at.

What OCAD SU Communicated

In their email sent on Monday February 23rd, the OCAD Student Union said that they’ve heard the outrage from the students and are joining the fight against the “Unjust, inequitable and unfair claw back of OSAP by this Provincial Government.” OCAD SU is sharing OCAD groups and other student coalitions’ events happening in the next few weeks, and they ask people to raise their voice to SAVE OUR OSAP NOW!

Events and Dates

Save OSAP! / Red Square Day (March 2nd, Mon) – 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM EST (ground floor, main building)

CFS-O / Ontario Protest Rally (March 4th, Wed) – 12:30 PM EST (Queen’s Park)

More events are set to be announced for the week of March 23-27.