OSAP the focus of protest by local high school students

North Star High School students held a protest over OSAP changes last Thursday afternoon.

Changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) has prompted protests from high school students in the province, with a recent protest being in Amherstburg.

Students from North Star High School held a walk out last Thursday afternoon with many coming to the front step of Amherstburg town hall to share their chants and signs with vehicles that passed by. Students walked from the public high school on Simcoe St. to town hall on Sandwich St. S., with signs that had slogans reading “OSAP weaves futures, not baskets,” “Education is for Everyone,” “Hands off OSAP,” and “Education is a Right.”

Tienna D’Amore said they are fighting for their education and for the ability to afford a post-secondary education. She said they have to try and make their voices heard and believed they would be losing their rights to education if it was unattainable due to costs.

“Education isn’t a privilege,” said D’Amore. “It’s a right.”

Lauren Kelly added current high school students are the future doctors, nurses, lawyers and artists and they need the ability to afford to pursue their goals.

“There are people not being given a fair shot,” she said.

D’Amore said an education is needed so that a better society is created.

“An educated society is a pathway to a healthy and balanced society,” she said.

D’Amore said her mother was able to buy a house when she was 21-years-old but doesn’t see herself being able to do that. Kelly added she has accepted the possibility of getting a home of her own by the time she’s 30-years-old.

Kelly said they were allowed to have the walkout and appreciated being permitted by staff to have the protest. She is prime minister of the North Star student parliament, but emphasized this was not a student parliament event. Kelly said she and deputy prime minister Madison Kemp still believe they are leaders and stepped up to be some of the organizers.

The protest stemmed from provincial announcements that were made Feb. 12. The province says it is “taking decisive action to protect postsecondary students’ access to the education they need to launch successful careers, build long-term sustainability in the postsecondary sector and support the world-class research being conducted at Ontario universities and colleges, while ensuring education remains accessible for future generations.”

The Ontario government states in a press release “a stronger, more sustainable OSAP system will ensure financial assistance remains available for future generations while supporting students’ appropriate investment in their education and success. To strengthen the long-term sustainability of OSAP and bring it in line with other provinces, Ontario students will be eligible to receive a maximum of 25 per cent of their OSAP funding as grants and a minimum of 75 per cent of their funding as loans. OSAP will no longer offer grants to students at private career colleges, in alignment with changes made by the federal government to its own student support funding.”

According the province, “Ontario will be negotiating an enhanced Student Access Guarantee (SAG) with institutions to provide additional financial support for tuition, books and mandatory fees for low-income students if OSAP funding does not cover these costs, ensuring students of all financial backgrounds can access higher education.”

The announcement also pointed out “an updated tuition framework will support the postsecondary sector’s long-term sustainability while maintaining one of the lowest rates of tuition increase in Canada. Ontario will allow publicly assisted colleges and universities to raise tuition by up to two per cent per year for three years, then up to two per cent or the three-year average rate of inflation, whichever is less, in the years following. This rate of increase will be among the lowest of any province in Canada, including comparable jurisdictions such as British Columbia and Manitoba.”

“A new long-term funding model will see universities, colleges and Indigenous Institutes focused on delivering programs that align with student and labour-market demand supported by increased, predictable funding. This new long-term funding model will bring an additional $6.4 billion into the sector over four years and raise annual operating funding to $7 billion, a 30 per cent increase and the highest level in the province’s history. It will also fund 70,000 more in-demand seats, while better meeting the needs of small, rural, northern, French-language and Indigenous Institutes,” the Feb. 12 announcement added.

OSAP the focus of protest by local high school students

By Ron Giofu