If you'd like to attend post-secondary school, but you or your family have a low income, there's good news on the horizon.
A new provincial grant program — which comes into effect in September — makes average college or university tuition free for students from families with incomes of $50,000 or less.
Sudbury MPP and Minister of Energy Glenn Thibeault held a press conference at Cambrian College Friday morning to raise awareness of the new program and to encourage prospective students to look into it.
People can enter basic information at ontario.ca/osap, and in just a few clicks they'll learn whether they qualify for free tuition and how much aid they could receive under the new program.
“We recognize that post-secondary education is a social equalizer,” Thibeault said. “In today's day and age, seven out of 10 jobs require a college or university degree.
“So we want those people who many not necessarily come to post-secondary education because they think they can't afford it to look at this calculator (on the website) and say 'You know what, I can go to university or I can go to college and get my tuition and some living expenses covered.'”
The student aid changes were originally announced in February 2016 with the provincial budget.
The province said at the time that more than 50 per cent of students from families with incomes of $83,000 or less will receive non-repayable grants that will exceed average college or university tuition.
Ontario is also increasing access to interest-free and low-cost loans for middle and upper-income families.
The province promised all students will be the same or better off as under the 30% Off Ontario Tuition Grant, introduced in 2012.
That grant has been criticized for largely excluding mature students, as it's available only to college and university students who moved to post-secondary education from high school within four years of graduating.
To pay for the grant program, the government is cancelling a number of other education tax credits and grants.
“Come 2018, when you apply for your tax credit, there's no more tuition tax credit,” Thibeault said.
“What we're doing now is giving you the money ahead of time rather than waiting until the end of the year, after your school's been paid for and you've struggled to get through it, to get the small amount.”
Cambrian College president Bill Best also encourages potential students to go to the website and find out what grants they qualify for.
Affordability is the biggest barrier for people entering or staying in post-secondary education, he said.
“If you believe like I do that education changes lives, then we're looking at a whole group of people that we can now affect by having them in our college, having them in university,” Best said.
“Their life is going to be changed forever by the experience and the skills they'll attain to gain employment going forward.”
