Want to go to college, but you have no high school diploma? Have a diploma, but you are missing a necessary course to be able to apply to a college program?  You have many options to open the door to college.

The updated (March 2026) chart below shows 4 different ways to get to college.  Perhaps the most well known route is the Ontario Secondary School Diploma pathway (red).  But it is not the only pathway available to adults.  There is also ACE, CAEC and Mature Student Status

NOTE:  Good news!  Now, learners that earn college entrance via upgrading (without an OSSD and without the high school prerequiste courses) are eligible to also get their OSSD on completion of a college diploma or degree program! On July 28, 2023, the Government of Ontario released Policy/Program Memo 132 on the subject of Prior Learning and Recognition for Mature Students – Revised Mandatory Requirements that announces this change.

At ESU, we help people down two pathways to college:
1.  ACE: Academic and Career Entrance Program pathway (yellow)
2.  CAEC: High School Equivalency Certificate via the Canadian Adult Education Credential (GED replacement) pathway (purple). (Note:  please see our CAEC – the GED Replacement page)

To visit CESBA’s Ontario’s Pathways to Postsecondary Education for Adult Learners page with a downloadable companion guide, click the link below:

Ontario’s Pathways to Postsecondary Education for Adult Learners