Founded in 1975

The College Student Alliance (CSA) is a member-driven advocacy organization which proudly serves Ontario’s college and college-university students. The CSA currently represents over 70% of all Ontario college students consisting of 16 colleges and 23 student associations with over 135,000 full-time students throughout the province.

As the only officially recognized voice for college and college-university students in Ontario, the CSA has a seat at the table of virtually every government and stakeholder committee and task force relating to postsecondary education. As a united voice through the CSA, college students have a powerful lobbying voice that is recognized for its depth of knowledge and ability to provide sustainable solutions to the issues facing postsecondary students.

CSA’s main competencies are advocacy related on behalf of its membership on all issues relating to college education including tuition, accessibility, quality and transferability. Independent of any political or organizational affiliations the CSA is dedicated to championing the needs of Ontario postsecondary students from the students’ perspective.

Additionally, the CSA works with each member Student Association (SA) to ensure issues relating to their campus are addressed. The CSA is dedicated to assisting each member SA in increasing their level of awareness on campus.  Believing in the autonomy of each member SA, the CSA provides resources to enable and equip each member to better fulfill their role on campus.

The CSA acts as an important source of information for its members, stakeholders, and other organizations by publishing and distributing policy and position papers on key issues impacting college and college/university students and the institutions they attend.

As the voice for over 135,000 Ontario college and college-university students through their representative student associations, the CSA provides a powerful and influential voice for all when advocating on behalf of its members. The CSA and its members believe in a collaborative form of advocacy that puts as much emphasis on creating sustainable solutions as discovering the needs and shortcomings of  the existing PSE system.

We believe the best way to affect lasting and effective change is to be a part of the process. With no political or organizational affiliation driving a separate agenda, the CSA solely represents the views and passions of our students. We bring attention to areas of deficiency in the postsecondary system, as well as future opportunities and resources, to ensure a quality, accessible education for all members of society. Through in-depth research and consultation, the CSA is proud of our record of bringing credible and workable solutions that ultimately influences positive change at the government levels.

The CSA is also active in supporting our member Student Associations as a partner when dealing with campus specific issues. We believe that our member SA’s are the primary voice for their campus and the CSA is committed to supporting that voice in whatever way deemed appropriate by our membership.

Our 5 Pillars of Focus are: