The University of Guelph says that it will take between 12 and 15 months to figure out how it will address changes created by the province's new OSAP guidelines and the Student Choice Initiative.
Carrie Chassels, the schools new vice-provost of student affairs, said Wednesday that the school is still awaiting all the details on the changes announced by the province in January before it figures out how to address them.
"We're anticipating that we'll have the details of the initiatives that have been announced in the next week or two," Chassels said.
"But we have taken an approach at the university that it will take between 12 and 15 months to really develop our own strategy to bring in new initiatives and responding to what those details are."
She said the U of G is still assessing the impact of some of the recent initiatives.
"We haven't conducted an analysis. We really don't know what those impacts may or may not be," she said.
OSAP is shifting to more funding for those in financial need but also putting more weight on loans as opposed to grants. Tuition fee cuts and the Student Choice Initiative, which will give students options on what student groups, clubs and activities they pay for, are also part of the changes.
Chassels made her comments as students chanted and made speeches a few metres away as part of a province-wide student protest against the changes to OSAP and the new Student Choice Initiative.
Chassels said the students were protesting because they care, but they are in the same boat, not knowing the details.
Sami Pritchard of the Canadian Federation of Students said students walking out of class in protest Wednesday shows that "without students, without access to our post-secondary education and without the essential services that we need to support us through our time of post-secondary education, these institutions won't run."
Students are engaged and they are outraged, Pritchard said, at changes to OSAP that affects those that need it most.
"Students are outraged with the Student Choice Initiative and with the government deeming what is esential for us despite us already making those decisions democratically ourselves," Pritchard said.
Kayla Wieler, the Central Student Association's vice-president external, said students are scared.
"We're definitely scared of our OSAP debt and going into mountains of debt for an education that is a right," Wieler said.
"That debt stops them from being able to purchase houses and live in a city such as Guelph. The whole concept of OSAP debt and student debt is probably the scariest thing for a student."
There is also fear among many campus clubs and groups that they will be losing their funding under the Student Choice Initiative.
"The Student Choice Initiative is actually a false choice initiative. It's phrased as a choice for students, but in reality they're not. The amount of fees that student are able to opt out of are a lot more limited than people think."
The big ones: the bus pass and athletic fees, are not "opt-outable," Wieler said. The ones that students will be able to opt out of are groups that cost less than a dollar but help create a safer campus.
Chassels said the changes are not all bad news.
"I know that those are going to be some of the advantages to our students," Chassels said.
She said the U of G will also be looking at ways to support those most adversely effected by the changes to OSAP.
But until all the details come down from the province, Chassels said she can't answer what those initiatives by the school would be.
