Ontario's OSAP pause leaves paramedic students without promised funding

Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn paused OSAP for all career colleges and other private postsecondary schools while KPMG audits their use of it. He says preliminary findings were of such concern that he acted sector-wide.

The Learn and Stay Grant, funded through OSAP, covers tuition for nursing, paramedic and medical lab technology students who agree to work in underserved areas. Only one career college, CTS Canadian Career College in northern Ontario, is eligible.

Grant-funded paramedic students who dropped out

41 students

CTS says 41 students who were to receive the grant have dropped out, and 115 remain. The minister's office says work is under way to reassess the college's eligibility.

These communities desperately need those students. We need those paramedics, and we need those workers out there.

— NDP Leader Marit Stiles