The Ontario government is offereing a full tuition refund to St. Clair College students who withdraw from this semester because of the province's five-week-long college strike.
The Ministry of Advanced Education says students across the province will have two weeks from the resumption of classes tomorrow to decide whether or not they want to continue with the condensed semester.
The government says students will also be eligible to receive up to $500 for unexpected costs they incurred because of the labour dispute, such as childcare fees, rebooked train or bus tickets, or rent.
St. Clair College spokesperson John Fairley tells CTV News their website will be updated regularly as new reimbursement information is made available.
"We want to be sensitive to where people are at in their lives and what this has done," says St. Clair spokesperson John Fairley.
College faculty in Ontario were back in their schools Monday, after the strike was ended over the weekend with back-to-work legislation.
The 12,000 professors, instructors, counsellors and librarians, who had been on strike since Oct. 15, are returning to work to prepare for students' return on Tuesday.
Ontario's Liberal government first tried to introduce and pass the back-to-work legislation in one fell swoop Thursday night but the NDP forced the legislature to sit through the weekend to debate the bill, ultimately passing it Sunday afternoon.
Here are some of the date changes at St. Clair as part of its contingency plan:
• Classes will be extended to Dec. 22.
• The Holiday Break will be from Dec. 25 - Jan. 1. The college will be open on Dec. 27 - 30 to access services (e.g. Library, Tutoring and Open Computer Labs).
• Fall classes will resume on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.
• Exams will be scheduled in Jan. 16-20, 2018.
• The January semester will be delayed accordingly but total semester duration will be 14 weeks (includes March Break).
• March Break (March 12 - March 16) will continue as planned, with the exception of the Collaborative Nursing program, which is scheduled Feb. 19 - Feb. 23.
College officials say due to changes to the academic calendar, contingency plans will support students who have prior travel commitments.
(With files from The Canadian Press)