The province is expanding its Ontario Learn and Stay Grant program to include nursing students at Trent University and Fleming College, a move it says will help strengthen the health-care workforce in Peterborough and across eastern Ontario.
The province announced an additional $14 million investment in the program, allowing about 1,500 nursing students at the two schools to have tuition, books and other direct education costs covered beginning this fall, provided they commit to working in eastern Ontario after graduation.
Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn was at Trent on Tuesday morning for the announcement.
The expansion is part of the province’s broader effort to address health-care staffing shortages by training more workers in high-need regions and encouraging them to remain in those communities.
Trent President Cathy Bruce welcomed the news.
Interim President at Fleming, Theresa Knott, says this expansion is the result of outstanding collaboration.
The province says it has invested more than $175 million in the program to date, supporting nearly 13,000 students across Ontario. Of that total, nearly $54 million has gone toward training more than 4,000 future health-care workers in eastern Ontario.
Applications for the Fall 2026 term are now open through the provincial government’s Learn and Stay portal.
(Written by: Jordan Mercier)
