Ontario asks police to probe OSAP applications linked to private career colleges

Ontario Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn released a statement detailing some of the concerns, while also announcing that all OSAP payments associated with private career colleges were being paused as the ministry proceeds with an independent third-party audit by KPMG.

“Preliminary findings have identified serious concerns about the integrity of the OSAP system in the private post-secondary sector,” Quinn said in the statement, adding that the investigation is ongoing. “These include common ownership, the involvement of immigration services firms and co-location between private career colleges and immigration recruitment or immigration services firms, inadequate student validation and verification of course enrolment and outcomes and unusually high concentrations of OSAP applications submitted from the same geographic locations.”

The “volume and nature” of these concerns prompted the government to inform the auditor general’s office of the issue last week, while also referring the matter to Ontario Provincial Police.

The latest moves are part of a process that began in the fall of 2024, when concerns were first raised. That led to an increasing series of steps including a deeper review in May 2025, targeted inspections starting in July 2025 and the government calling in the Forensic Investigation Team in December 2025.

In May, the Ford government issued notices of non-renewal to six private college campuses in the province. Citing the scope and complexity of the issue in August, they called in accounting firm KPMG to “assess the broader integrity of OSAP applications at private post-secondary institutions.”

“The ministry is continuing its work to investigate and gather information with the support of KPMG,” Nolan said. “The government has also paused all OSAP payments associated with private post-secondary institutions as the audit proceeds.”

He also vowed that private career colleges will have to meet “stricter criteria” before regaining OSAP eligibility and that those details will be provided at a later date.

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Ford summoned his MPs to a virtual meeting to provide background on the changes that the government will be making.

According to the province, the major area of concern for the OSAP irregularities involved online courses provided by private colleges.

“As a result, the government intends to introduce legislation to exclude predominantly online programs at private career colleges from OSAP eligibility,” Nolan said.

“This builds on recent changes that removed OSAP grant eligibility for all career colleges.”

🚨#BREAKING: Ontario Liberals call for @nolanmquinn’s resignation. As Minister of Colleges and Universities, he must answer for the Ford government’s mismanagement of hundreds of millions of dollars in OSAP funding to private career colleges – and its botched response. #onpoli https://t.co/4tJ7Tk3kAy

— Ontario Liberal Party | Parti Libéral de l’Ontario (@OntLiberal) October 6, 2026

Opposition calls on Quinn to resign

The government said to help those who need financial assistance while studying at private colleges, they are looking to provide low-interest loans from third-party groups. Nolan said the government is in discussions with financial institutions to facilitate the loans.

Opposition parties slammed the government for “turning a blind eye” as the problem grew with the Liberals saying that hundreds of million of dollars in OSAP funding flowed to private career colleges.

Interim Liberal Leader John Fraser called for Quinn to resign over the issue, saying he has “lost the trust required to oversee our post-secondary education system.”

London-area MPP Peggy Sattler, the NDP’s shadow minister for colleges and universities, said students are meanwhile being punished for the government’s “grossly mismanaged” system.

— With files from Brian Lilley and Jordan Ercit.