How the new loan system will work,

What do the changes mean?

10 per cent tuition cut:

The province is cutting tuition for domestic students by 10 per cent. For a student attending an Ontario college, this means an average savings of $340 depending on the program, Postsecondary Minister Merrilee Fullerton said.

Free tuition:

It’s gone. Brought in by the previous Liberal government, it allowed qualifying students to have 100 per cent of their tuition covered by grants that they didn’t have to pay back, and still qualify for OSAP to cover living expenses. Now the province is converting more of the grants to loans. No one will have their tuition covered entirely by grants.

Individual impact:

It depends on your situation. The province said that under the new plan, 82 per cent of grants will go to students with a family income of less than $50,000, up from 76 per cent under the previous government. However, those students will still have to pay for some of their tuition out of pocket through loans.

Second degrees:

If you’re doing another degree, your loan-to-grant ratio will be a minimum of 50 per cent loan.

Mature students:

The definition of a mature student, which the government calls an independent student, will change from someone who’s been out of high school for four years to someone who’s been out of school for six.

This means that you’re tied to your parents’ income longer, and your OSAP grants and loans calculation will be connected to your parents’ income for six years after you’re out of high school, rather than four.

The OSAP interest grace period:

It’s gone. You still have the grace period on making payments, but now interest will accrue during that time.