After the Ford government made sweeping changes to how student loans in Ontario operate, disgruntled students are planning to rally at Queen’s Park on Wednesday.

Students are organizing a “hands off our education” protest at the legislature beginning around 12 p.m., focusing frustration on the province’s decision to allow tuition fee increases and shifting from grants to loans.

“The Ford government’s decision to open the floodgates to tuition increases AND the decimation of OSAP will destroy what’s left of education in Ontario,” a post from the Guelph University students read.

“Enough is enough – it’s time to take to the streets and flex the true power of students in the province.”

Frustration with the changes has been simmering since the Ford government first announced them on Feb. 12, allowing colleges and universities to increase tuition by two per cent a year, offering them more government cash and changing how OSAP works.

The latter change is the one that has attracted the most energy, shifting public funding for students from loans to grants.

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The existing proportion of OSAP was about 85 per cent grants to 15 per cent loans, the government said, but starting this fall, students will receive a maximum of 25 per cent of their OSAP funding as grants.

Premier Doug Ford has said shifting from loans to grants would make students “accountable” for the money they take from the government, referencing alleged misuse of student finance.

“You are taking tax dollars and you have to be held accountable when you take tax dollars,” he said. “It’s not a freebie anymore. Money doesn’t grow on trees.”

The Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security insists that, despite the premier’s comments, the move to loans is necessary to ensure the financial stability of the program.

In 2024, they said, there were 862 potential investigations for fraud across all OSAP grants and loans. The figure was 902 for 2025. The ministry would not confirm how many of those reports actually found fraud or the total dollar value of the alleged fraud.

Opposition parties have pushed back against the changes, saying the government is harming people’s prospects for post-secondary education.

The Ontario NDP said its “Save OSAP” campaign had seen 30,000 sign-ups and 30,000 emails sent to the offices of Progressive Conservative MPPs. They said 700 calls had been made during a phone blitz.

The legislative assembly said it had not been told how large the rally would be, and the Canadian Federation of Students did not respond to questions ahead of publication.

The event is expected to run from around 12:30 to 4 p.m.

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