STUDENTS PROTEST OSAP CHANGES

Ontario students across the province are protesting about the recent changes made to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP). The Ontario government has announced that, starting this fall, OSAP grants will decrease from a maximum of 85 per cent to 25 per cent.  

On Mar. 4, 2026, hundreds of students and community members from across Ontario gathered at Queen’s Park to protest the cuts. Similar protests broke out in different cities, including Waterloo and Ottawa. The OSAP changes are not only affecting post-secondary students but also secondary schools.  

At the University of Waterloo, the reaction has been described as historic. Remington Aginskaya-Zhi, Vice President of the Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association (WUSA), noted that the campus is seeing a level of mobilization not seen in decades.  

“This is the most engaged we’ve seen students probably ever,” Aginskaya-Zhi said. “The rally that we held was one of the biggest gatherings or protests on campus in probably our entire history.”  

The movement is gaining even more traction in the Greater Toronto Area, where students are framing the cuts as a systemic attack on public institutions. Trudi Kiropatwa, a third-year student at Toronto Metropolitan University and a member of the Student Mobilization Committee (SMC), says the impact in Toronto is extreme.  

“We’re essentially on a sinking ship,” Kiropatwa said. “This government and their corporate cronies see us as customers and our education as an industry that is ready to be exploited.”  

The urgency stems from a lack of clarity on how these cuts will affect individual bank accounts. According to WUSA, the provincial OSAP estimator for the upcoming year has yet to be released, leaving students in a state of financial limbo.  

Kiropatwa noted that for many, the breaking point is graduating into a job market with record-high youth unemployment while saddled with massive debt.  

“Me, personally, I’m going to be graduating with tens of thousands of dollars of student debt already without these changes,” she said. “These changes are making the issue ten times worse.”  

“Students definitely are very worried,” Aginskaya-Zhi said. “We are hearing stories from students telling us they’re uncertain whether they can come back to school next year, or whether they can pursue graduate studies.”  

This uncertainty is already forcing students to make difficult lifestyle changes. Aginskaya reported that some students are opting for longer commutes rather than living in Waterloo to save on costs, while others are seeing their younger siblings reconsider university altogether.  

Beyond the provincial level, the University of Waterloo is also grappling with internal budget crisis pressures. Aginskaya-Zhi highlighted that financial support units on campus are currently understaffed, which could complicate the processing of student aid.  

“The university right now is understaffed and has lots of challenges to hire new staff…but funding should not come at the cost of giving more debt to students,” she said.  

In response, organizations like WUSA and the SMC carried out a massive convergence at Queen’s Park on Mar. 24, 2026. Despite the government maintaining its argument that the 25 per cent grant limit is sustainable, the mobilizations saw hundreds of activists reiterating demands for a full reversal.  

“We’re not here to demand a return to normal…which is a Band-Aid solution,” Kiropatwa said. “We’re here fighting for free, democratic, and accessible education.”  

“Right now, I think students are angry, and what we are focusing on is giving students an avenue to let out their anger,” Aginskaya-Zhi said.   

She emphasized that the momentum will not fade as the semester ends.   

“Just because winter term is ending and it’s summer now doesn’t mean that students have forgotten this betrayal from the government.”  

As Parliament returns to session, WUSA intends to keep the pressure on local MPPs to ensure the student voice is heard.  

“We hear your anger, we hear your frustration,”  Aginskaya-Zhi concluded as a message to the student body. “We are going to work to make sure that you can share that with us.”  

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