Ontario Budget 2025: Welcome Investments, Yet Students Still Bear the Burden

Yesterday, Ontario’s Finance Minister, Peter Bethlenfalvy, released the 2025 Ontario Budget: A Plan to Protect Ontario. The College Student Alliance was grateful to be invited to observe the tabling in the Ontario Legislature. Today, we analyze the projected investments for the 2025-2026 year and how they impact college students in Ontario.

The 2025 Ontario Budget lands during a time of significant pressure for colleges across the province. While CSA welcome’s the government’s targeted investments in postsecondary education - which will help support job growth and economic resilience - college students are continuing to feel the on-the-ground impacts of cuts that are undermining the quality of their education. Officials have referred to this as an “adjustment period”, when in reality, it is a time of on-going uncertainty and declining student support on campuses. 

This blog will highlight both the positive investments made into post-secondary education as well as discuss the growing gap in core funding that continues to put students' education and mental health at risk.

Positive Investments that Support Students and the Economy

The CSA wants to acknowledge and highlight the Ontario Government's targeted investments that will help colleges fulfill their role as economic drivers and community anchors, this includes:

• $10 million over three years in new scholarships for First Nation students pursuing careers in resource development;

• $207 million over three years through the Ontario Research Fund;

• $50 million for the Better Jobs Ontario program in 2025-26 to help jobseekers with training expenses, including tuition and childcare;

• $159.3 million over three years for skilled trades programs, expanding the In-Class Enhancement Fund and funding Level 1 apprenticeship fees;

• $75 million over three years to create 2,600 new annual seats in construction-related college programs; 

• $750 million over five years to support up to 20,500 new STEM seats;

• $10 million in 2025–26 to support small, Northern, and rural post-secondary institutions;

• $16.5 million for the Black Youth Action Plan in 2025–26 to connect Black youth to high-demand sectors like IT, skilled trades, and the arts;

• $261.7 million over three years for the Ontario Learn and Stay Grant, helping students in health-care fields cover tuition and educational expenses.

These initiatives align with what Ontario needs most: a pipeline of job-ready graduates in high-growth sectors like health care, skilled trades, and STEM. Students will also benefit from broader affordability and infrastructure measures, including:

• One Fare Transit Program, allowing students to move more easily and save money across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area;

• $1.8 billion for Ontario’s Primary Care Action Plan, a long-term investment to connect every Ontarian to a primary care team;

• Tax breaks for new rental housing, including up to 35% off municipal property taxes and removal of the 13% HST on qualifying new builds.

Projected Decline in Post-Secondary Expense

Despite these targeted investments, overall provincial spending on postsecondary education is set to decline from $13.3 billion in 2023-24 to $12.8 billion by 2027-28. This marks a decrease in projected spending in both base funding and student financial assistance, which has been attributed largely to decreased international tuition revenue following federal caps on international student permits and the end of short-term funding programs.

Yet this misses a critical point: Ontario colleges were already underfunded, and the federal cap on international students has only exposed that fragility. Reducing overall spending now means institutions are forced to make deep cuts that harm students.

Students across the province are witnessing program closures, especially in smaller or specialized areas. Cuts to essential support staff - particularly those providing mental health services and assisting international students - are becoming more common. Campuses are being consolidated or closed altogether, and faculty reductions are impacting the quality of classroom instruction. These realities compromise both the academic and personal development of learners. Students are only in college for 1 to 4 years - a small window in which they should be gaining stability, support, and the skills they need for future success.

Instead, they are left facing uncertainty, diminished services, and rising anxiety. As Ontario works to produce job-ready graduates in key sectors, we cannot compromise the very systems that support student success.

The Path Forward

CSA recognizes the value of the budget’s targeted investments and applauds the government for supporting growth in key sectors. However, this cannot come at the expense of students currently enrolled in college - those who are paying tuition, managing housing and food insecurity, and striving to gain the skills Ontario’s workforce desperately needs.

Now is not the time to scale back support. Now is the time for increased collaboration between institutions and government to restore core funding to colleges, stabilize the sector in light of lost international tuition revenue, and protect the student experience from further erosion.

Every student deserves access to high-quality education - no matter their institution, background, or location. CSA will continue advocating to ensure that no college student is left behind while sustainable solutions are developed.

Read the full Ontario 2025 Budget document click here.