High school students around Hamilton walked out of class Friday to protest provincial cuts to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP).

Despite the windy and slippery weather, at least 100 students at Westmount Secondary School walked out around 2 p.m.

Students walked to Upper James Street, where they chanted and held signs. “Hey hey, ho ho, student debt has got to go,” they chanted, as cars drove by and honked in support.

Hillary Konick, a Grade 11 student from Westmount, was among them, protesting the cuts because all students “deserve a fair shot at having a good future.”

“We’re here to learn… and to get jobs to integrate ourselves into society and benefit the economy and do great things,” said Konick.

“I think everyone deserves a fair shot at doing that.”

On the other side of the city at Sherwood Secondary School, students also walked out starting at 12 p.m., including Daunte Hillen.

“I think that [the provincial government’s] deliberate dismantling and vandalism of public education is threatening our opportunities for our entire generation,” he said.

“Education isn’t just a privilege. It’s not a privilege at all. Education is our right and it belongs to us.”

The Minister of Colleges and Universities Nolan Quinn announced in February that starting this fall, the amount of money eligible students can receive in non-repayable OSAP grants will decrease from a maximum of 85 per cent to 25 per cent. Meanwhile, funding for loans will increase to a minimum of 75 per cent. 

Currently, students can receive a maximum of 85 per cent as grants — which do not have to be repaid — and a minimum of 15 per cent as loans that must be repaid. 

For Hillen, the cuts mean reevaluating all the plans he has made towards his post-secondary education.

“I’ve had to have difficult conversations that really we shouldn’t be having [about the future],” he said. Hillen has recently been accepted into McMaster University’s Wilson College of Leadership and Civic Engagement.

Marginalized students could be hit hardest

Hillen said the cuts are likely to hit marginalized students the most.

“[Students] are out here really just working through all the barriers and inequalities that have emerged from all the decisions before,” he told CBC Hamilton.

“They’re receiving scholarships, recognition for their work in the community, but it’s not being honored because at the end of the day, the system is not designed for them to access it because it’s so chronically underfunded.”

The new changes also allow colleges and universities to raise tuition by two per cent annually for the next three years.

“As students, we believe that it is our responsibility to go out and really fight against these policy changes, and fight for our peers, ensuring that all people, all students have the ability to pursue post-secondary education no matter the economic background,” said Nand Shah, a Grade 11 student at Westmount Secondary School.

‘I stand with the basket weavers’

Students at Glendale Secondary School and Bishop Tonnos Catholic Secondary School were also planning a 2 p.m. walk out Friday as well.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has stood by the decision to make the cuts, despite pushback not just from high school but also university and college students. In early March, students protested outside of Queen’s Park and across the province, leading to arrests.

Other high school students in Hamilton and elsewhere in the province held walk outs earlier this week. Petitions opposing the decision have also popped up online.

Ford defended the cuts last month, saying OSAP grants are funded by taxpayers.

“The taxpayers expect the students to go through courses that are going to drive economic growth,” said Ford.

He said students should pursue “jobs of the future,” naming jobs in STEM, health care, trades and tech as examples. Ford said jobs in these sectors are in demand, and students should focus their studies there as opposed to taking “basket-weaving courses.”

Students at the walk out Friday in Hamilton responded, holding signs that read, “I stand with the basket weavers,” and “education for all, not just the rich.”