The purpose of this memorandum is to invite you or a representative of your college to participate in the TCAF Forum to be held at Queen’s Park on Monday December 10, 2001.  This event is being co-hosted by the Ontario Association of Career Colleges (OACC) and the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU).

The TCAF is a Private Career College (PCC) industry initiative led by OACC to protect students and improve the public’s confidence in private education.  We are working closely with the government to develop a system that works for students and PCCs.  Kevin Costante, the Deputy Minister of MTCU has the following comments:

Raising the Bar on Student Protection

- June 2001, London, Ontario

Ontario’s Private Career Colleges attending the OACC annual general meeting unanimously approved the concept of a Training Completion Assurance Fund (TCAF).
  This fund will:

q       Protect students’ investment in a private education by creating a PCC-industry sponsored fund to ensure that a student’s training is completed in the event a PCC closes suddenly.

q       Provide tuition refunds if no feasible train out can be implemented.

q       Build Public Confidence in Private Education.

The December 10^th TCAF Forum is your opportunity to learn about this initiative and have a voice in shaping the policies, procedures, regulations and legislation that it entails.  The following points summarize what has been proposed to date:

q       Creation of a PCC-industry controlled non-profit corporation to administer the TCAF.  The governing board of this fund will be broad based including government, industry and financial sector participants.

q       Development of a communication policy to inform students of their protection under the TCAF.

q       Collection of premiums (most likely monthly in the range of 0.1% - 0.25% of all tuition revenue for all registered programs).

q       Reduction of bonding (with minimums) for participating PCCs.

q       Increase of bonding requirements for non-participating PCCs.

q       Coverage to focus on training completion (not tuition refunds except in board-determined individual cases).

There are several reasons for the development of a student protection fund at this time.  Over the past 4 years a number of PCCs have closed, affecting the education of several thousand students.  In every case an existing or new PCC has taken on the responsibility (often at significant cost) of completing the training of the affected students.  The industry has shown it is responsible, the concern is whether that will always be the case.

Although very few students were unable to complete their training, all were inconvenienced and the uncertainty around the situation has created concerns and unnecessary anxiety for students.  The media has also seized upon these opportunities to headline articles about the perils of private education.  Rarely is the article about the new college taking over as prominent as that of the old college closing.  This leads to a perception of instability in the eyes of the general public as well as the Members of Provincial Parliament that represent them.

Our objective for this stage of the TCAF is to provide input into how new legislation and regulation could ensure that students have acceptable and fair financial protection of their investment in a private education at an Ontario PCC.  It is the intention that, as a result of this consultation process, recommendations will be made that will be implemented in PCC regulations.

Since the middle of last year, members of MTCU have been meeting with representatives of OACC to determine a framework that will ensure that the views of the private career college industry on this critical initiative are presented and clearly understood. This committee has reviewed consumer protection funds in several other Ontario industries, some of which have been cornerstones of self-regulation in those industries.  A comparison has also been made of training completion funds in other Canadian and US jurisdictions. It is now proposed that the membership of this main committee be expanded to include more school representatives, including both OACC and non-OACC members.  Consultation will also take place with representatives of financial institutions, bonding companies and other interested parties.

On December 10^th, the entire PCC industry is invited to participate in a review of what has been developed to date and to work in sub-committees to fully define the key components of the TCAF. A professional facilitator will lead this full-day forum with the following key agenda items:

q       An opening address by Kevin Costante, Deputy Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities.

q       A presentation of the proposed TCAF in its entirety.

q       Breakout into 6 groups to thoroughly discuss and recommend final policy regarding the components of the TCAF (including a light lunch).

q       Regrouping after the breakouts to present the final recommendations and discuss the alternatives in areas they could not finalize.  Adjournment by 4 p.m.

q       The goal of this forum is to finalize at least 80% of all parts of the TCAF.  Any unresolved issues would go back to the main committee for more discussion.  A final report will be developed and circulated to the entire PCC industry for comments with a final vote on the creation of the TCAF at an open session of the June 2002 OACC AGM or sooner in another special Forum.

q       The proposed start date of this fund is January 1, 2003.  Certain components would be live at that time and others will be phased in over a number of years.

Because of the financial implications to PCC businesses, the participants in the TCAF forum will consist primarily of owners of registered private vocational schools.  If it is not possible for you to participate personally, you may nominate one of your school’s senior staff.  Please go to www.TCIF.org  to register.

If you are unable to participate in the forum, please register onsite with a “No”.  If you would like to share some thoughts on any aspect of the policy or regulation, please feel free to submit your thoughts online or directly to one of the TCAF Committee members as listed below by email by November 30^th (please put “TCAF” in the subject line).  Unless you indicate otherwise, your comments will be forwarded to the appropriate sub-committee in order to ensure that your views will be taken into consideration.

We sincerely hope that you will be interested in taking part in the development of the TCAF as the results will undoubtedly have significant long-term implications both for individual colleges as well as for the private career college industry as a whole in Ontario.  We look forward to your cooperation and contribution.

Frank Gerencser

CEO – triOS College of IT

Vice President  - OACC

Chair of OACC's TCAF committee

CC:       Honourable Dianne Cunningham, Minister of MTCU

            Kevin Costante, Deputy Minister

Contact Information for some of the TCAF Committee: