The Ontario government received more than 220 tips and complaints over 2½ years about three private career colleges, some of which alleged that recruiters were filling out financial aid applications and completing online coursework on students’ behalf and using the province’s student aid program as a marketing tool, according to documents filed in court.
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recruiters → receive → court
As the number of applications for Ontario Student Assistance Plan grants and loans at three Greater Toronto Area campuses of Academy of Learning Career College skyrocketed in recent years, court documents allege thousands of these applications came from a small number of IP addresses, which can reveal an internet user’s approximate location.
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which → skyrocket → location
Officials in the provincial government’s student financial assistance branch say the usage patterns of the IP addresses point to third parties submitting OSAP forms for students, which would be a violation of the program’s rules.
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which → say → rules
At Academy of Learning’s North York campus, 3,460 OSAP applications for 2025-26 – approximately 57 per cent of the total – were submitted from a single IP address.
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applications → submit → address
Fifty-two per cent of OSAP applications for the Brampton East campus that year came from one IP address, as did 25 per cent of applications for the downtown Toronto location.
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cent → come → location
The allegations, which are laid out in two Aug. 10 memos confirming the Academy of Learning franchises won’t be eligible for OSAP in 2026-27, are the latest revelations in a case that has reverberated across the private career college sector in Ontario.
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that → lay → Ontario
In early October, Nolan Quinn, Ontario’s Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security, announced he was freezing OSAP payments to all private postsecondary institutions, blindsiding tens of thousands of students who had been counting on loan disbursements that had already been approved.
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that → announce → disbursements
Mr. Quinn said the move was necessary to safeguard the integrity of the financial aid program after suspicious activity was flagged at six Greater Toronto Area private career colleges where OSAP-funded enrolment in online courses soared in recent years.
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enrolment → say → years
In Ontario, postsecondary students can qualify for loans and grants based on financial need, but not if the school they attend is not OSAP eligible.
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they → qualify → need
To qualify for OSAP, students must live in Ontario and be Canadian citizens, permanent residents or protected people such as approved refugees.
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students → qualify → refugees
In August, the ministry brought in auditor KPMG to examine the private college sector more broadly.
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ministry → bring → sector
Enough “serious concerns” emerged that the government referred the matter to the Ontario Provincial Police and decided to implement the sector-wide freeze.
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government → emerge → freeze
The Academy of Learning franchises in Brampton East, North York and on Bay Street, which are operated by the same group, were among the six GTA schools flagged by the province, all of which were informed in May that they would be cut off from OSAP.
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they → operate → OSAP
The Academy of Learning franchises applied for a judicial review of that decision, kick-starting a legal case that has put details of the allegations against the schools on the public record.
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that → apply → record
(Two locations of Citi College are pursuing a judicial review for similar reasons, but fewer documents have been filed in that case so far.)
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documents → pursue → case
The operators of the Academy of Learning franchises have denied wrongdoing.
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operators → deny → wrongdoing
They say they take seriously concerns raised during ministry inspections of their campuses in 2025, and have responded with detailed corrective action plans overseen by a ministry-approved independent compliance monitor.
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they → say → monitor
The new court documents include an Aug. 19 report from the independent compliance monitor, Veronica Bila of accounting firm MNP.
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documents → include → MNP
The report says Academy of Learning has “implemented the corrective actions committed to” across the three campuses, with one minor exception.
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Academy → say → exception
However, MNP struggled to verify the identity of 100 OSAP-funded students selected at random from the schools.
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MNP → struggle → schools
Forty-four of the students showed international IP activity on Canvas, the schools’ online learning platform, and 50 showed more than 10 IP addresses accessing their Canvas accounts.
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50 → show → accounts
The MNP report includes a spreadsheet documenting attempts to reach the 100 students by phone.
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report → include → phone
Only nine completed interviews.
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nine → complete → interviews
Most didn’t answer or hung up.
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Most → answer → ?
One note on a student with an IP address in Afghanistan read, “Picked up and constantly beating around the bush, does not understand English well (I feel) did not want to co-operate.”
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I → read → English
A note on another with an IP address from Pakistan said, “Picked up, however, said she doesn’t remember much and did not want to answer.
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she → say → much
Gave me her spouse’s number to call and ask them – tried the number but the number was invalid.”
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number → give → number
The new court documents also reveal that the Academy of Learning franchises and the ministry reached a confidential settlement on July 30.
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franchises → reveal → July
Under its terms, the ministry agreed to a fresh review of the schools’ applications for OSAP approval for 2026-27, while the schools put their legal case on pause.
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schools → agree → pause
Eleven days later, on Aug. 10, Saba Ferdinands, director of the ministry’s student financial assistance branch, sent two memos to Chamara Perera, chief operating officer of the Academy of Learning franchises, saying their OSAP status wouldn’t be renewed.
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status → send → franchises
The memos include line graphs showing mammoth increases in OSAP-funded enrolment in a short period.
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memos → include → period
The Bay Street campus went from 1,387 OSAP-supported students in 2022-23 to 7,429 in 2024-25 – a 436-per-cent increase in two years.
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campus → go → years
The number of OSAP-funded students at the Brampton East campus hit 4,253 in 2024-25, up 455 per cent from 766 students two years earlier.
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number → fund → students
(The North York campus was first approved for OSAP in 2024-25.)
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campus → approve → 2024
The graphs show that OSAP-funded enrolment at the schools plummeted the following year.
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enrolment → show → schools
Academy of Learning did not respond to questions for this story by deadline.
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Academy → respond → deadline
The court documents show the province received more than 200 tips and complaints about the Academy of Learning franchises in recent years.
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province → show → years
Mr. Perera, in an Aug. 21 response to the ministry contained in the court filings, said the institutions, “cannot reasonably respond to third party complaints, tips and referrals when the substance of the allegations has not been provided to us.”
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substance → contain → us
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
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None → prove → court
Mr. Perera also wrote that the large number of OSAP applications coming from a few IP addresses could be due to new safeguards that require prospective students to complete in-person interviews and fill out OSAP applications at a computer terminal on campus.
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that → write → campus
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
