OSAP/financial aid

In addition to supporting students with government financial aid programs (OSAP, OLSG, BSWD/CSG-DSE), Georgian offers millions of dollars in awards, scholarships and bursaries awarded to Georgian students annually. Also, every term, the Work Study Program at Georgian offers paid, on-campus jobs.

Financial Aid and Awards provide financial counseling and a financial literacy workshop series, Thrifty Thursdays, to help you prepare financially.

Ontario is making changes to OSAP to shift to a more sustainable, long-term model that protects student financial assistance for future generations, to help Ontario students continue to access high-quality education at postsecondary institutions.

Students will continue to be eligible for student aid supports and funding will continue to be assessed based on financial need as in prior academic years.
Ontario students attending publicly assisted colleges and universities in Ontario and Canada, as well as other public and private institutions in Ontario, will receive a greater proportion of their provincial funding in the form of loans with the share of provincial non repayable grant funding to be capped at 25 per cent of their total OSAP funding.

Specific details about how this change will affect individual assessed amounts will be available when the 2026-27 OSAP application is released in spring.

Students will continue to be eligible for funding supports and funding will continue to be assessed based on financial need as in prior academic years.
Students attending publicly assisted colleges and universities, will receive a greater proportion of their provincial funding in the form of loans with the share of provincial non-repayable grant funding to be capped at 25% of their total OSAP funding.

Students attending career colleges will receive their full eligible amount of provincial student financial assistance as loans.

Students are encouraged to monitor the OSAP website (ontario.ca/OSAP) for the release of the 2026–27 OSAP aid estimator and full-time application. Once available, students will be able to view an estimate of their individual 2026–27 loan and grant funding.

The OSAP changes are effective for the 2026-27 academic year and forward. All students who apply for OSAP funding for a study period beginning August 1, 2026 or later will be affected by changes to loan and grant eligibility.

No. Students who have received loan and grant funding for the 2025–26 academic year— including those applying for funding for the upcoming Spring/Summer 2026 term—will remain eligible for student loan and grant funding under the 2025–26 rules. The announced OSAP changes will apply only to funding beginning August 1, 2026, and onward.

No, these changes will not impact eligibility for the Ontario Learn and Stay Grant. Additional information about eligible 2026-27 OLSG programs will be provided later in the spring 2026. Students are encouraged to monitor the OSAP website (ontario.ca/OSAP) for updates.

OSAP offers funding through:

• Grants: money you don’t have to pay back.
• A student loan: money you need to repay once you’re done school.

Yes, but grants are now limited to 25%, which may not cover your costs.

The Student Access Guarantee (SAG) is a partnership program between the ministry and Ontario’s public colleges and universities.

Through SAG, Ontario’s publicly assisted colleges and universities are required to ensure that financial need is not a barrier to accessing education. If OSAP doesn’t cover a student’s assessed needs for expenses directly related to their program (e.g. books, tuition and mandatory fees,) a student may be eligible for additional financial aid. Schools provide this funding through a combination of non-repayable sources, including bursaries, scholarships or work study programs.

You’ll automatically be considered for the Student Access Guarantee based on the information on your full-time OSAP application.

Please contact the Financial Aid and Awards office for additional information

If you withdraw or drop a course(s) and are taking less than 60 per cent of a full course load (40 per cent for students with a permanent disability), you’re considered withdrawn and no longer eligible for the rest of the study period.

As a result:

• you’ll be required to repay your loans six months after the withdrawal
• you may have to repay money you’ve already received (called an overpayment) before you can receive future OSAP funding

In addition, please see the information on academic progress restriction and probation.

If you’re thinking about changing your course load, watch this video to find out how this may affect your OSAP funding.

Your OSAP loans will not accrue interest in some situations. If you’re getting OSAP for full-time students, you’ll automatically be interest-free once your school confirms enrolment.

You can apply to be interest-free on a previous loan if you’re continuing in part- or full-time study and NOT receiving full- or part-time OSAP:

• full-time students should use the Continuation of Interest-Free Status Application (apply online or via the paper application)
• part-time students should submit a Canada Student Loans Program Confirmation of Enrolment Schedule 2 form from Employment and Social Development Canada

While on co-op, you are considered a full-time student and eligible for OSAP funding; you are assessed for living costs only as there are no fees for co-op. Please note that you must be registered in Banner for your co-op term and have a co-op placement recorded on Georgian Connects to receive OSAP funding while on co-op. You will apply with a full-time OSAP application, and you can use the same start and end dates for the term.  Students who are receiving full-time OSAP funding for their co-op must receive a passing grade to remain eligible for the funding received. Failure to pass a co-op term may lead to becoming ineligible for future OSAP funding.

If you do not wish to receive OSAP funding while on co-op, but have previous full-time loans, please complete a Continuation of Interest Free Status application to let the National Student Loans Service Centre know you are still attending full-time studies.

You’ll need to repay your loan through the National Student Loans Service Centre (NSLSC).

Here, you can:

• see the status of your loan
• update your contact information
• change your monthly payment amount
• apply for the Repayment Assistance Plan

You’ll receive a notice in the mail that your loan repayments are about to begin.

If you don’t receive notice by mail, make sure you contact NSLSC before your six-month non-repayment period is over. You’ll want to review all aspects of your loan(s) and finalize details concerning repayment.

View video on how to repay OSAP.