By Abel Berhane

Students of Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) are rethinking their finances this semester as Premier Doug Ford’s changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) take effect.

In February, the province passed a bill lowering the proportion of OSAP assistance provided through grants. The change reduced the maximum amount of grant funding students can receive from 85 per cent to 25 per cent.

The change means at least 75 per cent of students’ provincial OSAP funding will become loans upon graduation, according to the Ontario government. 

The province also lifted a post-secondary tuition freeze that had been in place since 2019. Institutions will be able to increase tuition by two per cent each year for the next three years. Afterwards, increases can be up to two per cent or the three-year average rate of inflation, whichever is lower. 

The changes took effect Aug. 1, making this fall the first semester affected by the changes. Now, signs of pressure have emerged as financial need grows. 

Ellen Yarr, a policy and research analyst with the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, says the financial pressures are affecting how students decide to approach their futures. 

“More of these decisions are coming down to financial concerns rather than what a student actually wants to pursue as a career and a student’s academic abilities,” she said. 

Hisham Gedi, a first-year business technology management student, said financial considerations played a major role in his decision to leave mechanical engineering, a program he attended during the 2025–26 academic year, for a less expensive program.

“It made me realize that I would have to just be smart with what I take in university. Don’t just throw my money away and hopefully just be smarter going forward,” Gedi said.

Yarr said there is a lot more pressure for lower-income students to take on debt. 

“They would see [more debt] as a barrier to completing post-secondary education and it might be unrealistic for them to take on that amount of student debt in order to get a post-secondary education,” Yarr said. 

Although not a determining factor, Yarr also said there is a “generational pattern” in which a child is more likely to attend post-secondary if their parents have also attended post-secondary education. She said the pattern could continue if financial aid through grants isn’t provided. 

Aderinsola Ore Joseph, a second-year creative industries student, said OSAP provided financial support that made continuing her education more manageable as a first-generation immigrant. 

“It [OSAP] has definitely helped me put my foot in the educational path, because without it I don’t think I’d have the opportunity to be in school because I would just be in complete debt,” she said. 

Joseph said during her first semester, she struggled to focus on school while working to pay for it. Now, she says the decreased grants have made this even harder.

She signed up for counseling and peer support sessions  to avoid “dwelling too much” on her student loans. 

Signs of financial pressure are appearing elsewhere. The Toronto Metropolitan Students’ Union (TMSU) paused new applications for its Emergency Bursary program after receiving more than 150 applications between May 15 and May 30, 2026, as previously reported by The Eyeopener. The program offers grants of up to $500. The number surpassed the 125 applications the program received during the entire Winter 2026 term. 

In response to the changes, advocacy efforts against the changes are growing across Ontario. The Canadian Federation of Students–Ontario (CFS-O) is organizing a province-wide student walkout and demonstrations on Nov. 5 as part of its Hands Off Our Education! campaign.

Joseph said the rising student debt has made her concerned about what the future holds for students.

“Technically we are the future of the world, right? If the government is not thinking about how to build a good foundation for us to have a good support system, it just feels like they’re setting us up for failure,” Joseph said.