Ontario alleges mass OSAP applications from single IP addresses

Global News reported that Ontario alleges, in court documents, that over half of last year’s student aid applications at two Academy of Learning colleges in North York and Brampton came from one IP address. At North York, the ministry alleges, 3,460 of 6,070 applications for 2025-26 (57%) shared an address; at Brampton East, 3,136 of 6,001 (52%). At a third campus, on Bay Street in Toronto, it was 1,736 of 6,966 (25%).

On May 1 the province made the campuses ineligible for the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) for 2026-27, a decision the schools are challenging in court, The Canadian Press reported. The Academy of Learning has previously denied wrongdoing, and the allegations are unproven in court. The Academy told the ministry that shared addresses may mean several people live at one address.

Provincial OSAP grants to career colleges nearly doubled from 2023-24 to about $1 billion in 2024-25. The three barred campuses, Bay Street, North York and Brampton East, are Academy of Learning franchises with one parent company, Opulence Education Group. Together they accounted for one-fifth of that grant spending.

Minister Nolan Quinn has asked KPMG to audit the payments and referred the matter to the Ontario Provincial Police. Mr Quinn has said he will introduce legislation this fall.

Sources: Global News · CP24 (The Canadian Press)