CNSA Statement on Changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP)
March 6, 2026 — Nursing students, nurses and health-care professionals across the province, members of the Canadian Nursing Students’ Association (CNSA) and Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA), are deeply concerned by recent changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP). These changes reduce non-repayable grants and increase reliance on student loans. These decisions risk creating additional financial barriers for students pursuing post-secondary education, including those entering essential professions such as nursing.
Nursing education is academically rigorous and clinically intensive with extensive course work, laboratory training, and more than 1,400 hours of unpaid clinical placements in hospitals, long-term care homes, and community settings before graduation. These requirements significantly limit students’ ability to maintain consistent employment while completing their studies. As a result, many nursing students rely heavily on financial assistance programs such as OSAP to support their education and living expenses.
Workforce projections estimate that Ontario could face a shortage of more than 30,000 nurses by the end of the decade if recruitment and retention challenges are not addressed. At a time when Ontario and Canada continue to face significant nursing shortages, policies that create additional barriers to nursing education raise serious concerns for the future of the health-care workforce.
The impact of reduced financial supports is not experienced equally. Increased reliance on loans and rising tuition costs disproportionately affects students from low-income families, Indigenous communities, rural and northern regions, first-generation post-secondary learners, racialized students, and students with disabilities. Financial barriers risk narrowing the diversity of the nursing workforce and limiting opportunities for students who bring critical lived experiences and perspectives to patient care.
The CNSA and ONA call on the government of Ontario to ensure that financial aid policies support equitable access to post-secondary education and do not create additional barriers for students pursuing essential health-care professions such as nursing.
“Nursing students are already contributing to Ontario’s healthcare system through extensive clinical placements while completing rigorous academic training. When financial supports are reduced and tuition continues to rise, the message students receive is that pursuing a career in nursing may come at an unsustainable personal cost.”
“Before we graduate, nursing students complete more than 1,400 hours of unpaid clinical placements while meeting rigorous academic and professional standards. If Ontario is serious about addressing the nursing shortage, it must restore OSAP funding, recognize the reality of unpaid clinical labour, and ensure that financial barriers do not prevent qualified students from entering the nursing profession.”
“Access to publicly funded and delivered post-secondary education and health care is a fundamental right. These cuts to OSAP are part of the Ford Conservatives’ larger plan to privatize the essential public services that our communities rely on. While Ford denies, deflects and defunds, nurses and health-care professionals will fight back for our communities, including students, and our patients, residents and clients.”
About the Canadian Nursing Students’ Association
The Canadian Nursing Students’ Association (CNSA) is the national voice of nursing students in Canada, representing students from nursing programs across the country. CNSA advocates for the interests of nursing students and works to strengthen nursing education, leadership development, and the future of the nursing profession.
For media interviews please contact:
advocacy@cnsa.ca and communications@cnsa.ca