Ontario's colleges ministry alleges in court filings that more than half of the OSAP applications at two Academy of Learning career college campuses for 2025-26 came from a single IP address. The allegations have not been proven in court.
At the Brampton East campus, 3,136 of 6,001 applications, or 52 per cent, came from one IP address, the ministry alleges. At the North York campus, the figure was 3,460 of 6,070, or 57 per cent. At the Bay Street campus in Toronto, 1,736 of 6,966 applications, or 25 per cent, came from a single address, the ministry alleges. It says several other IP addresses at each campus accounted for 100 or more applications.
The three schools share a parent company, Opulence Education Group, and were among six that the province made ineligible for OSAP in May. The province cited an "inability to reliably determine bona fide studies." The schools are challenging the decision in court. The province issued a final decision in August and added it to the court record in October.
"The ministry is not satisfied that the institutions have adequate processes in place to ensure that its records and processes can be relied on for the proper administration and disbursement of OSAP funding to eligible students," the decision says.
The ministry says it has received more than 220 tips, complaints, referrals and investigations about the three campuses since Jan. 1, 2024. It alleges that some recruiters submitted OSAP applications for students, uploaded documents to their accounts and completed their coursework, and that they used OSAP funding as a recruitment tool. Submitting applications on students' behalf is not allowed.
Ministry officials who inspected the campuses last year looked at a sample of student accounts and allege they found shared IP address activity among students referred by the same recruiter.
The Academy of Learning did not comment on the new filings when asked by The Canadian Press. It has previously denied wrongdoing and says it has taken corrective actions, including cutting ties with some recruiters and tightening admissions practices. In an earlier letter to the ministry, it said shared IP addresses may reflect several people living at one address and that a shared address "does not, by itself, establish misconduct, misrepresentation, or unauthorized activity."
The ministry rejects that explanation in the filing. Shared addresses among students at the same physical campus may be expected, it wrote, but such patterns among asynchronous learners referred by the same recruiter are significant and make the school's explanation unlikely.
Between 2023-24 and 2024-25, provincial OSAP grants to career colleges nearly doubled, to about $1 billion. The three campuses accounted for one-fifth of that spending.
Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn has ordered a KPMG audit of OSAP payments to career colleges. In October he referred the matter to the Ontario Provincial Police and paused payments to all private post-secondary institutions.
NDP critic Peggy Sattler said the court filings show the minister "was completely incompetent at doing his job." Liberal critic Tyler Watt said each revelation raises more questions about what the ministry knew and why it did not act.
Quinn's office said it does not hesitate to cut off institutions when serious concerns arise. "Any misuse of OSAP is unacceptable," Bianca Giacoboni wrote in a statement. Quinn has said he will introduce further legislation this fall to strengthen accountability.
Comments (0)
Please log in to comment.
No comments yet.