Happy Windsor Delegates
OUSA has a long record of success in lobbying for changes that benefit students at Ontario’s universities. Some notable accomplishments include:
- successfully lobbied for $150 million investment in university infrastructure in 2009
- successfully lobbied for creation of the Ontario Distance Grant and Text book & Technology Grant in 2008
- Secured $5 million investment to help underrepresented groups access higher education in 2008
- successfully lobbied for a two-year tuition freeze and associated funding for 2004/05 and 2005/06;
- successfully lobbied for student representation on the review of higher education in Ontario (Leslie Church, former Executive Director of OUSA, sat on the Post-secondary Review Advisory Panel);
- successfully lobbied for $20.9 million in changes to student financial aid in the 2004 provincial budget, including:
- reducing the parental contribution;
- updating the definition of “independent” student from five to four years;
- increasing debt forgiveness for loans near-default; and
- extending OSAP to accepted refugees.
- Fifteen of the 28 recommendations from the final report of the Post-secondary Review reflect OUSA’s priorities as outlined in our submission;
- successfully lobbied for a tuition cap in 2000 (at two per cent per year for inflation);
- established a coalition of university stakeholders, with the aim of raising public awareness of post-secondary issues;
- lobbied to create the Ontario Advisory Committee on Student Financial Aid (OACSFA);
- created the framework for legislation that limited ancillary fee increases and rested decision making in the hands of students;
- persuaded the government to increase the allowable earnings threshold for students to $1,100;
- worked with the Alma Mater Society at Queen’s University to defeat deregulation at that institution; and
- ensured student involvement in the development of the Quality Assurance Fund.
