Ontario receives over 220 complaints about private career colleges ahead of OSAP freeze

Ontario’s student-aid office received more than 220 tips and complaints over the past two and a half years concerning three Academy of Learning Career College campuses in the Greater Toronto Area. The allegations include recruiters completing financial-aid applications and online coursework on behalf of students, and using the Ontario Student Assistance Plan (OSAP) as a marketing tool.

Court filings indicate that a large share of OSAP applications for the schools originated from a small number of IP addresses, suggesting third-party submission that would breach program rules. At the North York campus, 3,460 applications for 2025-26 – about 57% of the total – were linked to a single IP address. Similar patterns were observed at the Brampton East and downtown Toronto locations.

In early October, Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security Nolan Quinn announced a province-wide freeze on OSAP payments to private post-secondary institutions after suspicious activity was flagged at six GTA private career colleges. The ministry later engaged KPMG to audit the sector, and the investigation was referred to the Ontario Provincial Police.

Academy of Learning’s franchises applied for judicial review of the decision. The schools denied wrongdoing and said they had submitted corrective action plans overseen by an independent compliance monitor approved by the ministry. A report from the monitor, Veronica Bila of MNP, noted that most corrective actions had been implemented, but verification of 100 randomly selected OSAP-funded students was limited; many showed activity from multiple or international IP addresses.

The ministry and the Academy of Learning group reached a confidential settlement on July 30, agreeing to a fresh review of the schools’ OSAP eligibility for 2026-27 while the legal case was paused. On August 10, Saba Ferdinands, director of the student financial assistance branch, sent memos stating that the schools would not have OSAP status renewed. The memos included data showing rapid increases in OSAP-funded enrolment at the campuses, followed by a sharp decline after the freeze.

Academy of Learning did not respond to requests for comment by the deadline. In an August 21 filing, chief operating officer Chamara Perera said the institutions could not address third-party complaints without details of the allegations and suggested that new in-person interview requirements might explain the concentration of applications from a few IP addresses, a point the ministry said did not account for earlier patterns.