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Despite some groups’ claims, there was not a serious problem with the cost of school pre-2016. A study from Statistics Canada before Ontario and some other provinces made major increases to tuition funding found that very few Canadians didn’t go to university because they were financially unable to do so. Wealthier Canadians are more likely than poorer Canadians to attend university, but this has more to do with differences in academic performance and social influences than financial constraints. Student loans and scholarships are usually enough to pay for post-secondary education, so the upcoming changes to OSAP won’t dramatically reduce the number of Ontarians who can afford to go to school.

Wealthier Canadians are more likely than poorer Canadians to attend university, but this has more to do with differences in academic performance and social influences than financial constraints.

One thing these changes will do is push students to graduate on time and pursue the right path for themselves. Free tuition, which the 2016 reforms offered to many students, encourages students to do the opposite. In European countries where governments fully cover university tuition, lots of students don’t complete their degrees in time or at all because they don’t have to pay to spend extra time at school or to start a program that they’re unsure they plan to finish. One university in Italy, though, solved this problem by making students pay a fee each term.

Getting students to graduate on time and pick the right programs isn’t just important because it saves taxpayers money. Young people today are pressured to attend university even when it’s not the right fit for them, and end up in programs they don’t like or that have poor job prospects. This pressure is even stronger when governments pay the whole cost of their education. The upcoming changes to OSAP will help students avoid wasting their time and taxpayers’ money.