Almost all on-campus jobs at Trent, that is all jobs that might be somewhat related to students’ studies, are funded and distributed through the Ontario Work Study Plan; the rest through the Trent International Program. The program is funded by the government of Ontario and paid for by the exorbitant interest fees that graduated students are struggling to pay back. Norris is a first year student with a significant background in photography. She was tentatively hired at Arthur at the beginning of this year on the provision that she be able to figure out a way to lay claim to one of those little, yellow cards. She couldn’t -- she’s from Halifax.

Norris is one of many out-of-province students who have applied for positions only to find that their dream-job at Arthur, Trent Radio, OPIRG, the library, Trent Women’s Centre, the Athletics Centre, department offices and just about everywhere else on campus cannot hire them because their funding stipulates that the students they hire be Ontarian. Most have a story about the job they fell in love with but couldn’t get -- some just haven’t bothered trying. Curiously, although applicants must have applied to OSAP, they do not have to receive any funding from the government, they just have to be a resident.

Says Norris: “It just seems so unfair for both students and student run organizations. Shouldn’t they be able to choose to employ the best applicant?”

Laurel Paluck, Programme Director at Trent Radio agrees: “I found it disappointing that a person we wanted here at Trent Radio through the OWSP program was unavailable, simply because she was from out of the province. It was frustrating and disappointing.” She acknowledges the great benefit of the program: “I’m grateful for the OWSP program certainly,” says Paluck, “we couldn’t hire people otherwise.”

Through OWSP, which is one facet of the Ontario Student Assistance Plan (OSAP), the Ontario government covers 75% of the cost of employing the student. According to the Financial Aid office, Trent currently has 380 OWSP jobs available to students. The eligibility requirements state that the applicant must be a Canadian citizen and demonstrate financial need by being OSAP eligible. The frustration for out-of-province students is the fact that they are not OSAP eligible in spite of often crushing financial need and burdensome loans distributed by other provinces. OSAP eligibility requires that you be able to prove Ontario residency which, when you’re in university, is calculated by how long you lived in the province before you started school. Even students in their fourth (or sometimes fifth) years living in Ontario are still ineligible to successfully apply for OSAP or get an OWSP job.

In spite of this, all student loans in Canada are administered through the federal National Student Loan Service Centre (NSLSC). The majority of all student assistance is federal funding (60%) with the provinces generally being responsible for the remaining 40% of the loan. Because student assistance is provincially distributed and controlled there are discrepancies across the country as to what benefits can be distributed to students through the university.

 So what does Work-Study mean and why all the fuss? According to the University of Toronto: “Work-Study jobs offer practical experience related to students’ field of study or work duties which may allow students to explore future academic programs or career areas.” The Ontario Work Study Program defines the jobs only as distributed through on-campus organizations but the jobs funded by the program at Trent are certainly more suited to many students’ interests than available jobs off-campus. Out of province students are more often than not out-of-luck when these jobs are advertised and miss out on acquiring the skills which such programs are supposed to foster.

“I found it disappointing that a person we wanted here at Trent Radio through the OWSP program was unavailable, simply because she was from out of the province. It was frustrating and disappointing.”

The ever-controversial MacLean’s University rankings always consider International and out-of-province students as a positive influence on the university. This is not necessarily because of any diversity of perspective that might alleviate the stultifying Ontario-centric nature of the province’s schools, but as an indication of how powerfully marketed the university is. Their methodology states that out-of-province students are considered as “a measure of [the university’s] drawing power.” Trent’s ever-growing student body has included a burgeoning number of students from other regions of Canada. In 2004 Trent reported a 40% increase in students from the oft-forgot parts of Canada.

Because the only real requirement for these jobs is OSAP eligibility the only real qualification is proof of Ontario residency – actually collecting OSAP is not a requirement. Not only are not all OWSP-eligible students paying into the funds from which their jobs are created, but out-of-province students are certainly creating a healthy revenue base for the provincial government in their own right. In 1998 out-of-province students contributed $13.5 million dollars to the provincial government through provincial taxes. According to Enterprise Canada, that means that out-of-province students directly or indirectly sustained the equivalent of 8,821 jobs. The long-term benefits that Ontario receives from attracting these students include not only the ever-growing burden of tuitions and costs of living but the decision of many students to stay in Ontario. In fact, the problem of students from the Atlantic Provinces going to and staying in Ontario has brought about some very creative (and often weird) policy changes out East. New Brunswick got a lot of attention for its prodigal son policy that tried to woo recent graduates back from Ontario. Meanwhile flagging enrollment numbers at Maritime schools has meant that the institutions, which are much more poorly funded than Ontario, have been trying to woo just about anyone they can.

“Perhaps I shouldn’t seek out a university where I believe I will be met with more opportunities to build my skills, but rather settle for a university close to home where the opportunities will at least be more equally presented to me.”

Dalhousie University does not have any restrictions on provincial residency in order to apply for jobs. As more and more students from the Atlantic provinces head west to academic and technical programs in Ontario and Alberta the schools in Canada’s poorest provinces are having to make up for the slack that has been generated. UPEI cut tuition by 10% last year and a freeze is in effect in Newfoundland. They’re also trying to draw students from central and western Canada through advertising campaigns that promote the supposed ‘idyllic’ nature of Eastern Canada. On top of these campaigns, they employ the students that they draw.

Norris mentions that Dalhousie lies “a whole six blocks from [her] house.” She can’t help but draw comparisons and wonder about the choice she made: “Perhaps I shouldn’t seek out a university where I believe I will be met with more opportunities to build my skills, but rather settle for a university close to home where the opportunities will at least be more equally presented to me.”

Schools in other parts of the country aren’t the only ones catering to the national draw. Other Ontario universities cater more heavily to out-of-province applicants and market and promote themselves nation-wide. Because they have such national drawing power these schools also offer positions at on-campus jobs. The University of Toronto opens up their Work-Study program to any student on financial assistance, be it OSAP or another province’s loan. They also consider special cases such as students who receive federal funding but do not qualify for OSAP. They also consider non-OSAP students such as Aboriginal students receiving aid through the Aboriginal Student Support Program and refugee claimants. Queen’s provides Work-Study jobs to “Domestic” and “International” undergraduate and graduate students. McMaster employs out-of-province students under their McWork program. The University of Western Ontario and University of Ottawa have their own Work-Study programs that combine Ontario funding with university-based funding and require only that students be on some form of financial assistance. Still, many others also use the Ontario Work Study Plan to fund on-campus jobs – the universities which draw highest on these provincial assistance plans tend to be smaller schools without the resources necessary to create jobs for financially strapped students no matter their origin.

The continued lack of support for out-of-province students at Trent is due, in large part, to Trent’s financial situation. While universities like UofT benefit under the Ontario Student Opportunity Trust through which the government of Ontario matches every dollar that the institution raises through endowments, Trent doesn’t receive anywhere near the private funding that a larger institution can accrue. OSOTF funds would support students who demonstrate financial need and could perhaps open doors for the creation of jobs that aren’t necessarily tied to OSAP but financial need in general. This inequality allows for larger institutions to cater to the needs of a diverse group of students and paves the way for Trent to be shut out of competing nationally for students. This shift to institutional benefits has created a greater divide between, in the language of the federalists, have and have-not institutions, a divide that is playing itself out through have and have-not students. Says Norris: “No matter where I go, I’m a have-not province!”

Current OWSP and OSAP regulations mean that smaller institutions are dependant on these programs to provide Work-Study opportunities for students. Funds are currently distributed based on fund-raising capacity rather than proportion of needy students – one category in which Trent tops university rankings. Continued reliance on provincial funding (rather than federal) to administer a federal program means that there are provincial divides amongst the provinces that favour the rich and the populous.

“Until the University is willing to offer some benefits to students who have chosen to come to Ontario for school the university should stop referring to itself as a national university.” 

British Columbian student Philip Benmore is mad as hell. Last year, in an effort to not take it anymore he attempted to found a student union for his out-of-province brethren. Amongst the issues that TOPSA (Trent Out of Province Association) would represent to the TCSA and administration are issues surrounding recognition of out-of-province scholarships and health cards.

Benmore says that: “Until the University is willing to offer some benefits to students who have chosen to come to Ontario for school the university should stop referring to itself as a national university.” 

The Trent International Program lobbied to set up a program for on-campus jobs for International students. The program now pays for 50% of the cost of employing a student for these positions of which there are usually one or two per organization. Says Benmore: “TIP worked really hard to set that up, and because no one’s done that for out-of-province students yet, no one’s lobbied on their behalf, it’s not there. We don’t have anyone to defend us.” Benmore’s embryonic TOPSA would do just that and then lobby for consolidation with the TCSA.

Despite the absence of funding to create positions for out-of-province students, some groups have pinched pennies and found ways to employ an out-of-province student directly through their allotted annual budget. In most cases that this occurs the only justification is that there were no other applicants for the position.  In the meantime, most out-of-province students are still looking longingly at the Job Boards.

Says Norris: “If Trent’s serious about having a national reputation it would seem logical to implement policies that would make it attractive to good students from other provinces.” In the past few years there’s been a lot of talk about the old Trent slogan: “Canada’s Outstanding Small University.” We’ve come to agree that Trent is no longer small or outstanding. Perhaps, we never really were Canada’s either.