Conservative politicians celebrated the expansion of an Academy of Learning campus in Brampton last year, more than two years after the province first received warnings about possible misuse of student aid at private career colleges.
Ontario has now frozen Ontario Student Assistance Program payments across the entire private postsecondary sector while an audit examines concerns the government says are concentrated in online-only programs.
Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria, Brampton-West Progressive Conservative MPP Amarjot Sandhu, and federal Conservative MP Amarjeet Gill attended the Brampton opening of a new Academy of Learning campus last fall alongside Opulence Education Group co-founder Puneet Khanna.
“Community colleges like this are so important for us as we train the workforce of tomorrow,” said Sandhu. A sentiment underlined by Gill calling the opening “an important milestone.”
Despite years of warnings about private career colleges, the Doug Ford government took donations from Academy of Learning’s owner Puneet Khanna.
Ontario’s political contribution database lists three donations under Khanna totalling $4,666 to Ontario Progressive Conservative riding associations—$3,000 and $759 to Mississauga Centre and $907 to Willowdale in 2024 and 2025.
Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn announced the blanket funding pause Tuesday as KPMG continues its audit of OSAP applications at private postsecondary institutions.
Preliminary findings raised concerns about common ownership structures, immigration services firms, inadequate student and course verification, and unusually high concentrations of applications from the same geographic areas.
The province has notified the Auditor General and referred the matter to Ontario Provincial Police.
Quinn told reporters the Ontario Provincial Police referral was made on October 2. He described the allegations as “criminal” and “numerous”, but did not identify the institutions involved.
The blanket pause has prompted objections from Career Colleges Ontario, which is urging the government to restore financial aid and target suspected misuse without disrupting students who have followed the rules.
Career Colleges Ontario has been warning the Doug Ford government for years.
According to court documents reported by The Trillium, Career Colleges Ontario notified the ministry’s OSAP Inspection and Compliance Unit of suspicious activity more than three years ago in January 2023. Meetings followed in May and twice in November that year. By April 2024, Career Colleges Ontario asked that their findings be referred to law enforcement.
More than 87,000 students at private institutions received nearly $2.4 billion in OSAP grants and loans in 2024–25. About half went to students at just 10 of the province’s 177 listed institutions.
The government now plans to introduce new legislation that excludes predominantly online programs at private career colleges from OSAP eligibility. Private colleges will also have to meet stricter criteria before regaining access to the program.
For students caught in the funding pause, the province says it is discussing low-interest loans with financial institutions. It has not announced when those loans would become available.
The Academy of Learning colleges that lost their OSAP eligibility are challenging the government. They said that they’ve already addressed many of the province’s concerns.
Juno News has also traced links between Canadian private career colleges and Punjab-based student recruitment firms.
Opulence Education Group co-founder Gurinder Bhatti is also a director of Punjab-based Express Student Services, giving him business interests on both sides of the international student industry.
Wait a minute! There must be some mistake here! There's actually a white male in that picture and he looks like he might even be (gasp!) STRAIGHT!