Post-secondary students across Ontario staged province-wide walkouts and demonstrations last week to protest cuts to student assistance programs.

“Hands Off Our Education!” and “Hands Off Our OSAP!” protests were organized after the province lifted a seven-year tuition freeze earlier in the year, which allowed universities and colleges to increase fees by up to two per cent each year over the next three years.

Students are facing a 60 per cent decrease in grant funding and they say more support from MPPs is needed to reverse the cuts.

At an unrelated media event, Ontario Premier Doug Ford commented on the demonstrations by calling the students “naive,” likening them to “sheep” who blindly follow “looney tunes” posts on social media, adding that they should be “thanking the government for just investing.”

Ford went on to say the post-secondary students should be focused on “getting a job of the future,” in fields like STEM and health care… “Give your head a shake, kids.”

Despite being the most affected by the cuts, students have been at the forefront of organizing protests and lobbying at Queen’s Park. Students and union leaders say more support from MPPs is needed on the ground. 

The Canadian Federation of Students is calling it an “attack on education” by Ford and his government.

On the left, a student protest sign showing an illustration of Premier Doug Ford chasing down students drowning in loans and tuition fees. On the right, Premier Doug Ford commenting on the protests, calling students ‘naive’ and that they should be ‘thanking the government’ instead.

In February, the Ford government announced it would significantly cut student assistance grants due to “unsustainable” costs. Beginning in August, the proportion of non-repayable grants a student can receive from OSAP was reduced from 85 per cent to a 25 per cent maximum, with the rest in loans.

A seven-year freeze on tuition was also lifted, allowing colleges and universities to raise tuition by up to two per cent per year for the next three years.

Many students are reporting they are now deeply burdened by debt due to the massive cuts to OSAP grants as life becomes rapidly unaffordable on multiple fronts with no end in sight.

“For students already balancing tuition fees with rent, groceries, transportation, additional routine expenses, paired with the deepening cost of living crisis and the rise of youth unemployment, the government’s decisions deepen financial insecurity. For low-income, disabled, and racialized students, who inherently face barriers in accessing education, these changes will only intensify their existing challenges in completing post-secondary education,” CFS writes in a statement to Ricochet.