Ontario Investing $6.4 Billion to Support Postsecondary Sector’s Long-Term Success and Sustainability
Announced today, the Ontario government is making a historical investment in Ontario’s colleges, the students, and communities it serves. The province has taken a significant step that will power economic growth through a dynamic, skilled workforce in Ontario. Ontario college graduates are integral across a range of industries, such as, advanced manufacturing, construction, transportation, and health care.
The Ontario government is making the following changes starting in Fall 2026:
A new long-term funding model will see universities, colleges and Indigenous Institutes focused on delivering programs that align with student and labour-market demand supported by increased, predictable funding. This new long-term funding model will bring an additional $6.4 billion into the sector over four years and raise annual operating funding to $7 billion, a 30 per cent increase and the highest level in the province’s history. It will also fund 70,000 more in-demand seats, while better meeting the needs of small, rural, northern, French-language and Indigenous Institutes.
An updated tuition framework will support the postsecondary sector’s long-term sustainability while maintaining one of the lowest rates of tuition increase in Canada. Ontario will allow publicly assisted colleges and universities to raise tuition by up to 2 per cent per year for three years, then up to 2 per cent or the three-year average rate of inflation, whichever is less, in the years following. This rate of increase will be among the lowest of any province in Canada, including comparable jurisdictions such as British Columbia and Manitoba.
On average, this change will result in an additional cost of $0.18/day for college students and $0.47/day for university students. Low-income students will have this cost absorbed through an enhanced Student Access Guarantee (SAG).
A stronger, more sustainable OSAP system will ensure financial assistance remains available for future generations while supporting students’ appropriate investment in their education and success. To strengthen the long-term sustainability of OSAP and bring it in line with other provinces, Ontario students will be eligible to receive a maximum of 25 per cent of their OSAP funding as grants and a minimum of 75 per cent of their funding as loans. OSAP will no longer offer grants to students at private career colleges, in alignment with changes made by the federal government to its own student support funding.