Ontario students who’ve already graduated from college or university say the new free tuition plan doesn’t benefit them — and an online petition asking that their loans either be forgiven or be made interest-free now has almost 63,000 signatures.

At a press conference Monday with NDP leader Andrea Horwath, Ahmad Moussaoui told reporters he has $17,000 in debt after three years of studying marketing at St. Clair College in Windsor plus a year of university, “and like most students in Ontario, I graduated to find no jobs in my field. I incurred a lot of debt as well so that was kind of tough.

“I do remember when the Liberals announced the free tuition … I was in a state of confusion. On the one hand, I was so happy about the next generation of students that get to benefit from this, but on the other hand it leaves the rest of us to kind of fend for ourselves” so the 26-year-old began the petition.

Deb Matthews, the province’s minister of advanced education and skills development, said in an interview that the government has “taken a lot of steps over 13 years in government to reduce student loans and, hence, student debt. We’ve come a long way.”

The new tuition plan, which comes into effect next fall, means 150,000 students “will get more in grants — not loans, grants — than their tuition,” Matthews said.

Currently, Ontario provides students with $1.3 billion in grants and loans, about 70 per cent of which do not have to be repaid.

But Horwath said some big changes need to be made because “one of the biggest challenges young people face today is student debt,” which now averages $28,000 after four years of post-secondary studies. She said the NDP has pledged to put an end to interest charged on Ontario student loans, which would cost the government — but save students — a total of $25 million each year.

The Liberals’ “not-free tuition program is not the panacea they claim it is,” added Horwath, who also launched a website for students to talk about their debt levels.

Matthews, however, said she’s surprised the NDP “is not applauding these changes” to help lower-income students access post-secondary education, a plan that has caught the attention of other provinces and even some states in the U.S.