Shahroze Rauf | News Editor
Featured Image: These 3000 letters were sent to Queen’s Park as a response to the OSAP changes issued by the Ontario government. | Courtesy of Pixabay
The Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA) sent more than 3000 student letters to Queen’s Park regarding OSAP changes made by the Ford government of Ontario.
“The participation in this campaign clearly demonstrates the changes to OSAP are significantly impacting students across our province,” said Vice President at the University Student’s Council and President of OUSA Cat Dunne in a press release by OUSA.
The letter-writing campaign, led by the OUSA, started on September 10, 2019 and accepted submissions from students across Ontario until October 7. A public letter was also addressed to the Minister of Training, Colleges, and Universities, Ross Romano.
“Students are concerned about these changes, particularly the reduction in grants, the elimination of the interest-free grace period on the provincial portion of loans, and the change to the definition of ‘mature student,’ which now refers to students who have been out of high school for six years or more (up from four years),” reads the official letter by the OUSA.
The Ontario government had also made changes to student life by introducing the Student Choice Initiative, allowing students to choose what they wish to fund in terms of campus life and student-led activities and organizations.
“The Laurier Students’ Union has provided me with opportunities for both personal and professional growth and has been a second home for me during my time at university,” said Vice President Finance of OUSA Shannon Kelly in a blog post on the official OUSA website.
From intramurals to participating in club activities and the student union, Kelly said she benefited greatly from the resources her student union provided.
“Student associations in Ontario are incredibly valuable entities. It is my hope that students will continue to see the benefits of the work their institutions’ student association does and how they are essential to thriving, healthy campuses,” said Kelly.
The OUSA has been an active voice in questioning the provincial governments changes to post-secondary education and OSAP. With their letter-writing campaign, OUSA’s main focus was to ensure that students had a voice in provincial legislative affairs.
“Letters with students’ stories will be addressed to Premier Doug Ford, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, Ross Romano, and students’ local MPPs, and the goal of the campaign is to give students disadvantaged by these changes the opportunity to share their experiences with the provincial government. OUSA hopes to make it impossible for provincial leaders to ignore the effects that the OSAP changes are having on students,” said a news release by OUSA.
Though this may bring about change, other students are not entirely sure that the government’s position on matters will be affected by student campaigns such as this one.
“Maybe I’m jaded, but I don’t think that the government has much place for listening to students. They may pander all they want to students, but I don’t think they really care to listen to the voices of the student body,” said fifth-year psychology student Matt Render.
Whether or not the provincial government does consider the voices of over 3000 students on OSAP changes is yet to be determined. For now, OSAP changes and other legislation remain as they are under the Ford government.
