Ontario Student Aid Freeze Highlights Alleged Fraud at Private Career Colleges Ontario's Ministry of Colleges, Universities and Skills has halted OSAP funding to private postsecondary institutions amid allegations that Academy of Learning Career College used a handful of IP addresses to submit thousands of Ontario Student Assistance Plan applications on students' behalf. The freeze, which coincided with a lawsuit and a confidential settlement, has left tens of thousands of students uncertain about loan disbursements and has sparked a wider audit of the private college sector. The Ontario government has received more than 220 tips and complaints over a 2.5‑year period regarding three private career colleges, primarily the Academy of Learning Career College. The allegations, recorded in documents filed in the courts, claim that recruiters were filling out Ontario Student Assistance Plan (OSAP) applications and completing online coursework for students, using the province's student aid program as a marketing tool. According to the records, the number of OSAP applications for the Academy of Learning's three Greater Toronto Area campuses rose sharply in recent years, and the court documents allege that thousands of these applications originated from a small number of IP addresses.Suspicious IP addresses submitted OSAP applicationsIP addresses can give an approximate location of an internet user, and the usage patterns indicate that third parties were submitting OSAP forms on behalf of students, violating the program's rules. At the Academy of Learning's North York campus, 3,460 OSAP applications for 2025‑26 - roughly 57 per cent of that campus's total applications - were submitted from a single IP address.Fifty‑two per cent of the OSAP applications at the Brampton East campus and a quarter of the downtown Toronto location's applications also came from a single IP address. These revelations are documented in two August 10 memos that confirm the Academy's franchises will not be eligible for OSAP in the 2026‑27 year‑five session. The allegations are part of a broader case that has reverberated across Ontario's private career college sector.In early October, Minister Nolan Quinn announced that OSAP payments to all private postsecondary institutions would be frozen, effectively halting disbursements for tens of thousands of students who had already had approved loans. Quinn said the move was necessary to protect the integrity of the financial aid program after suspicious activity was flagged at six Greater Toronto Area private career colleges where OSAP‑funded enrolment in online courses had risen significantly in recent years.Minister Quinn froze OSAP payments for private collegesIn Ontario, postsecondary students can qualify for loans and grants based on financial need, but only if the school they attend is OSAP‑eligible. The Ministry had already informed the six GTA institutions in May that they would lose OSAP eligibility. The Ministry brought in auditor KPMG to investigate the private college sector more broadly, and the audit uncovered enough "serious concerns" to refer the matter to the Ontario Provincial Police.The findings prompted the sector‑wide freeze and the Academy of Learning franchises filed for a judicial review of the decision. The legal case has put the details of the allegations before the public record. While it is worth noting that two other institutions, Citi College, are also pursuing a judicial review, fewer documents have been filed in that case.The operators of the Academy of Learning franchises deny wrongdoing, asserting that they take the Ministry's concerns seriously and have responded with detailed corrective action plans overseen by a ministry‑approved independent compliance monitor. The new court documents include an August 19 report from the independent monitor, Veronica Bila of accounting firm MNP. The MNP report states that the Academy has implemented the corrective actions across the three campuses, with only one minor exception.Audit struggled to verify student identitiesHowever, MNP struggled to verify the identities of 100 OSAP‑funded students selected at random. Forty‑four of these students showed international IP activity on Canvas, the schools' online learning platform, and fifty showed more than 10 IP addresses accessing their Canvas accounts. The MNP report also contains a spreadsheet documenting attempted phone contacts with the 100 students; only nine completed interviews. Most of the others either did not answer or hung up.One qualifier was made about a student with an IP address in Afghanistan, stating that the student "picked up and constantly beating around the bush, does not understand English well … did not want to cooperate." A note about another student with an IP address from Pakistan described the outreach effort as "picked up, however, said she doesn't remember much and did not want to answer. Gave me her spouse's number to call and ask them - tried the number but the number was invalid.Academy franchises reached confidential settlement with Ministry" Alongside the court filings, the new documents reveal that the Academy of Learning franchises and the Ministry reached a confidential settlement on July 30. The settlement stipulates that the Ministry will review the schools' applications for OSAP approval for the 2026‑27 year‑five session, while the schools will pause their legal challenge. The settlement came just weeks after the Ministry had formally notified the schools that they would not be eligible for the program.The Ontario government's freeze of OSAP payments, which affected thousands of students across the private college sector, signals a broader attempt to curb fraud and restore public confidence in the province's student aid system. The case underscores the importance of robust monitoring and verification procedures for state‑funded educational programs. While the Academy of Learning claims its compliance framework is now complete, the MNP audit highlights persistent gaps in student identity verification.The forthcoming OSAP review will determine whether the institution can regain eligibility in the next funding cycle, with significant implications for students who depend on state‑backed financial support to complete their studies. Students currently enrolled at the Academy of Learning and other affected schools are advised to seek guidance from the Ministry or file their own complaints if they suspect that their financial aid disbursements have been compromised.The Ministry's goal is to protect rightful beneficiaries while ensuring that the OSAP system remains transparent and free of fraud. The broader fallout from this case may prompt further regulatory scrutiny and potentially a tightening of OSAP eligibility criteria, especially for private postsecondary institutions that offer online courses. The Ontario government's actions demonstrate a willingness to intervene decisively when the integrity of public funds is at risk.