What to know
- Ontario is funding 40,000 new post-secondary seats as part of a $1.7-billion plan to create more than 70,000 spots in programs tied to high-demand careers.
- The new seats will focus on STEM, health care, education, skilled trades and other labour-market-driven programs, with students potentially accessing them as early as fall 2026.
- McMaster University is receiving $90 million for 2,769 new seats, while the province has not yet announced how the remaining spots will be distributed among colleges and universities.
- Toronto institutions could benefit, with Toronto Metropolitan University previously saying it was among the schools expected to benefit from the investment; more details on Toronto-area allocations are expected in the coming weeks.
Students in Toronto and the rest of the province who are looking to get into high-demand programs could now have a better chance, as Ontario has invested in 40,000 post-secondary spots.
On Thursday, the provincial government announced that it is funding 40,000 new seats at publicly assisted colleges and universities across Ontario.
The move is part of the province’s $1.7-billion investment plan to create more than 70,000 additional postsecondary seats in programs leading to high-demand careers.
The expansion could mean Toronto students could have more of an opportunity to study in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, health care, education and skilled trades, programs that are highly competitive according to 2026 data by the Council of Ontario Universities.
“This funding not only invests in colleges and polytechnics in Ontario to produce job-ready graduates who fuel our economy; it recognizes that these institutions, working with industry and government partners to protect Ontario, are more important now than ever,” President & CEO of Colleges Ontario, Maureen Adamson, stated in a release.
“With Ontario’s economy expected to need more than one million university-educated workers over the next decade, expanding university capacity in STEM, AI, health care, education and other priority fields will strengthen Ontario’s talent pipeline and economic competitiveness at a crucial time,” President and CEO of the Council of Ontario Universities, Steve Orsini, also stated.
Students could have access to a government-funded spot by as early as fall 2026.
The province has yet to release anything on how the seats would be distributed across the participating colleges and universities, other than McMaster University in Hamilton, where the announcement was made.
McMaster University is receiving $90 million to fund 2,769 seats. Details for other institutions are expected to be announced over the next few weeks.
What fields are the new seats going toward?
Across the province, the more than 70,000 newly funded seats are expected to be divided accordingly:
- 40,200 seats for STEM programs
- 16,100 seats for health-care programs
- 7,900 seats for education programs
- 3,800 seats for trades programs
- 3,000 seats for other labour-market-driven programs
Why is Ontario doing this?
The province said the expansion is aimed at building a larger workforce while also improving the economy and the labour market.
Ontario said its colleges and universities identified programs that required the expansion, basing the numbers on local industry needs, student demand and regional labour-market needs.
The government added it received more than 1,000 letters of support from employers in the selected fields for expanding seats in the high-demand programs.
The province said the investment will increase annual operating funding for colleges, universities and Indigenous Institutes to $7 billion. It’s part of Ontario’s $6.4 billion investment into postsecondary education.
Toronto impacts
Toronto Metropolitan University previously said in February of this year that they are among the institutions set to benefit from Ontario’s postsecondary investment.
More specific details about how the seats will be spread across different schools, and whether any Toronto-area institutions will receive any, will be learned as the province announces the remaining allocations.
