Anderson College has laid off just more than 100 staff and paused classes for about 300 recently enrolled students.
asserted
College → lay → students
Computek College laid off 25 employees this week.
asserted
College → lay → employees
The Academy of Applied Pharmaceutical Sciences has laid off 10 people so far.
asserted
Academy → lay → people
And the owners of all three say they fear worse is to come if the Ontario government doesn’t lift a blanket freeze on loan disbursements to schools and students in the private career college sector sooner than its previously announced timeline of next year.
asserted
government → say → year
“We are operating, as you can imagine, at a huge loss,” said Laleh Bighash, president of the Academy of Applied Pharmaceutical Sciences, a private college in the Greater Toronto Area that trains university graduates for careers in the pharmaceutical and food-safety industries.
asserted
that → operate → industries
If the pause endures, she added, the school can survive for “maybe weeks, maybe maximum a month, but we wouldn’t be able to operate beyond that.
asserted
we → endure → that
Layoffs, class suspensions and other consequences are mounting for Ontario’s private career colleges as they struggle to stay afloat without their main source of revenue: tuition fees paid through the Ontario Student Assistance Program, the province’s needs-based student aid program.
asserted
they → mount → Program
The Progressive Conservative government has said it had no choice but to pause OSAP disbursements after a preliminary audit identified “serious concerns” with the integrity of student aid in the private postsecondary sector.
asserted
audit → say → sector
Some of those concerns were forwarded to the Ontario Provincial Police.
asserted
Some → forward → Police
Private career colleges offer quick diplomas for jobs such as personal support workers, early childhood assistants, community service workers, medical office assistants and dental hygienists, among others.
asserted
colleges → offer → others
They generally charge higher tuition than their publicly-funded counterparts because they aren’t subsidized by taxpayers.
asserted
they → charge → taxpayers
They also tend to attract low-income students, such as new Canadians and working parents.
asserted
They → tend → Canadians
As a result, their students rely heavily on government loans to cover tuition and to help defray their living costs.
asserted
students → rely → costs
Normally, OSAP sends tuition fees directly to postsecondary institutions, but that didn’t happen for private colleges this fall.
asserted
that → send → colleges
At least one private college in Toronto, the Harris Institute for music industry education, said the OSAP pause played a part in its decision to close, while another, Trillium College, has responded by suspending classes at all five of its campuses.
asserted
another → say → campuses
The freeze is also chilling business for career college marketers and suppliers, some of whom are sitting on niche textbooks and branded uniforms their clients can no longer afford.
asserted
clients → chill → textbooks
“My clients, they’re not under investigation.
asserted
they → ’re → investigation
But they’ve been cut off anyways,” said Eddy Della Mora, owner of Campus Bookstore, a business that sells books and clothing to private colleges.
asserted
that → cut → colleges
His sales were down 96 per cent in October compared to the same month last year.
asserted
sales → compare → month
Premier Doug Ford said earlier this week that his government is “moving as quickly as we possibly can” to reform OSAP rules for the private postsecondary sector.
uncertain
we → say → sector
Nolan Quinn, the Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security, is scheduled to make an announcement about the program on Thursday.
asserted
Quinn → schedule → Thursday
“We’re going to catch these bad actors, and they need to go to jail,” Mr. Ford said at an unrelated news event on Monday.
asserted
Ford → go → Monday
We need to get the money back and invest it into good actors.”
asserted
We → need → actors
In May, the province issued notices of OSAP non-renewal to six GTA career colleges that had recorded unusually large spikes in OSAP-funded students in online-only courses.
uncertain
that → issue → courses
Three of those schools took the government to court, a move that put provincial inspection reports and other internal documents on the public record.
asserted
that → take → record
Inspectors allege they found suspicious activities such as asynchronous courses being completed in a day or two and exams written in less than five minutes, often from IP addresses outside North America, which suggest third parties may have completed the coursework.
uncertain
parties → allege → coursework
They also noted that thousands of OSAP applications for the schools came from a handful of IP addresses.
asserted
thousands → note → addresses
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
asserted
None → prove → court
In August, the province brought in KPMG to conduct the wider audit that triggered the freeze.
asserted
that → bring → freeze
It’s not yet clear how many private postsecondary institutions have laid off staff or suspended classes, according to Career Colleges Ontario, an association that represents about 280 career college campuses.
uncertain
that → ’ → campuses
Spokeswoman Taylor Buck said the organization is actively gathering data from its members about the ramifications.
asserted
organization → say → ramifications
“We continue to hear from students about the very real impact this is having on their education and their ability to cover basic living expenses.
asserted
this → continue → expenses
If funding is not restored quickly, we expect more institutions will have to pause programs or close, putting even more students at risk of disrupted education,” she said by e-mail.
asserted
she → restore → mail
Muraly Srinarayanathas, the owner and chairman of Computek College, laid off 25 of his 120 staff starting on Monday.
asserted
Srinarayanathas → lay → Monday
The school, which offers mainly health, business and technology programs at its campuses in Scarborough, Markham and Ajax, has avoided suspending classes for now.
asserted
which → offer → classes
But Mr. Srinarayanathas worries about having to take that step, and having to consider another round of layoffs.
asserted
Srinarayanathas → worry → layoffs
And he worries just as much about the students and the workplaces they serve, including nursing homes, hospitals and daycares.
asserted
they → worry → homes
“I think it’s going to be horrific,” especially for health-care employers, he said.
asserted
he → think → employers
At Anderson College, which has 10 campuses in the GTA and in southern Ontario, students in at least one class broke into tears when they learned their course was being suspended, according to Heather Yang, the college’s president and chief executive officer.
uncertain
course → have → Yang
Late last month, Anderson paused classes for students newly enrolled in August and September.
asserted
Anderson → pause → August
…and 9 more, not listed.
The Aporia
