Federal cuts rise alongside tuition
By Tiffanie Nguyen, March 23 2026—
After July 2026, Canada Student Financial Assistance may reduce grants from $4,200 to $3,000.
Up to 70 per cent of Canadian families with children will be affected, according to the ongoing petition e-7090 (Social Affairs and Equality). The petition was initiated by Abdul Abbasi to address the grants and loans cuts by the Government of Canada.
What are Canada Student Loans & Grants?
The Canada Student Financial Assistance Program offers grants and loans to full-time and part-time students interest-free. Canada grants currently offer $4,200 or $525 per month of study for post-secondary students depending on financial need, eligible program and total family income.
From 2023-2024, $7.5 billion in federal grants and loans was disbursed across 727,755 full-time and part-time students. The majority of students applying were from low- and middle-income families or were independent.
During the academic year of 2025-2026 undergraduate students faced an increase of 1.4 per cent in tuition, raising fees to $7,734 annually.
What is Petition e-7090 (Social Affairs and Equality)?
The petition, e-7090 (Social Affairs and Equality), advocates for students who will be affected by the federal grants and loan cuts. According to the petition, federal grants cuts will impact 70 per cent of Canadian families and students for post-secondary school. The petition aims to address long-term affordability and permanent expansion of the Canada Student Financial Assistance program.
According to the petition, “after July 2026, the Canada Student Financial Assistance program will return to 2016 levels, when tuition was 20 per cent lower, student rent 40 per cent lower, and food 30 per cent lower.”
“28 per cent of recipients still have unmet needs, which would rise to 55 per cent if funding returned to $3000, risking post-secondary access for 180,000 students and cutting support for over 700,000 in the program,” states the petition.
As of March 9, 2026, there were over 8,000 signatures.
Member of Parliament from the New Democratic Party Caucus (NDP), Leah Gazan, is leading the petition. Gazan has previously fought and advocated for numerous policies towards post-secondary education, women and gender equality, families, children and social development.
How are students responding to the federal grant cuts?
Director-at-Large of Policy on the Canadian Alliance of Student Association’s (CASA) Board of Directors, Naomie Bakana, has advocated for support on financial aid, grants and loans. CASA had proposed $5,000 a year as the new maximum grant in November of 2025. Now, the main priority is maintaining the current grants of $4,200.
“Reducing the amount of grants and loans is not great [and] very [stressful] to see students impacted,” said Bakana. “Back in 2016, the levels were about $3,000 for grants…during COVID, they did a bump, so they increased it to $6,000. And then after COVID… it dropped down to about $4,200 for grants.”
According to Bakana, the government has not been consistent and committed to loans and grants. CASA is also advocating for the government to implement the program permanently.
“[It is] irritating that there’s no support from the federal government,” said Bakana. Students will struggle to sustain themselves from food insecurity, housing, and tuition assistance, she said.
CASA is determined to support students despite the lack of support given by the federal government, said Bakana. Petition e-7090 (Social Affairs & Equality) aims to collect 20,000 signatures to express the concerns of students.
“One thing about [the] federal government is negative public pressure … the government will not do anything if there is no pressure to do it,” said Bakana.
Tabling, social media posts and the petition has been linked in the CASA advocacy page to bring awareness and increase students’ engagement on this issue.
“The government takes it away if students aren’t signing this, if parents aren’t signing this. So, really just hoping to continue to get more traction, to continue to get more conversation, and continue to put pressure on the feds,” said Bakana.
“I collected about 30 letters. It’s pre-written, all students really have to do is like, address it to their parliament and then sign the letter and then the [Students’ Union (SU)] will be sending those letters off… having students sign those and then, honestly, having more outrage out there,” said Bakana.
Bakana said that letters in two versions can be written to your local MP’s to express your concerns for those who will be impacted. The two versions are “I am a student, I am affected” or “I am not a student, here are the ways it will affect students.”
“The whole campaign really helps them realize that students are the future… how [are] the future leaders of the country going to be leaders in the future if they can’t even afford their current education?” said Banaka.
Additional information to the Federal Cuts can be found in petition e-7090 (Social Affairs & Equality), and the CASA advocacy page.