CUP NOTES

By Aldera Chisholm CUP-- THE CANADIAN UNIVERSITY PRESS is an allegiance of campus newspapers across ‘anada. Among it’s other services, CUP functions as anews exchange between papers. This is why the X-Press carries articles not ritten by UPEI students. (That and the fact hat it makes us seem oh-so-much more profes- sional.) In this weekly column, current CUP urticles not carried in our paper will be sum- arized.

DALHOUSIE RADIO CENSORED BY RTC.

he Canadian Radio and Telecommunications ommission recently imposed sexual content estrictions on Dal’s CKDU. The broadcasts in juestion referred to gay sexual practices, aired in support of Gay Pride Day. The decision is idley felt to be unfair because it is the result f one complaint which Ian Pringle, president fthe National Campus and Community Radio ssociation, describes as homophobic. 26 ther stations held a protest in support of KDU by airing the controversial pieces.

SE NICE TO THE POPE, OR YOU’LL GET UED

e Gillette Company, maker of Liquid Paper, § pursuing legal action against two student lewspapers for running a graphic that spoofed ¢ product as ‘‘Liquid Pope’’. The graphic as distributed in 1993 and run by several pers. A complainant wrote Gillette and everal Catholic organizations describing the raphic as ‘‘anti-Catholic propaganda’’, and couraging consumers not to buy Liquid Pa- er. Gillette has not yet contacted any of the dent media involved, but in a letter to the bmplainant, the company stated that they ould *‘vigorously pursue the author and both ¢ Fulcrum and the Canadian University Press d put an abrupt end to this offensive mate-

in

ROCK GETS ITS OWN BREW

ock University in St.Catherine’s has madea ral with an Ontario microbrewery to produce S own beer ‘‘Issac’s Premium Light’, in nour of the schools namesake, Sir Issac Ock. The beer will be sold exclusively at the npus pub. Other institutions suchas Carleton versity may not get their own blend be- use Student Union events receive sponsor- P from established brands like Moosehead d Labatts, Hmmm... ‘‘Panther Pale Ale’?

-POLITICAL CORRECTNESS GROUP CIEVES GRANT

¢ Society for Academic Freedom and Schol- hip (SAFS) is headed by U of T professor Furedy who says that organizations such “mployment equity, race relations, and sta- of women offices have mandates that de- °y academic freedom. He feels that all of 'S€ offices should be replaced with a single ‘nan rights office. The $215,000 grant is ™ the Donner Canadian Foundation, a To- 0 organization that funds research.

FINANCIAL AID: $1 Billion in unpaid

Student loans sounds worst than it is

By Bruce Rolston (CUP)

ADIAN STUDENTS MAY OWE $1 billion in defaulted student loans, but that may be more the fault of the government than the students, some student aid officials are saying.

The federal government released fig- ures this month that said one in five recipients of Canada Student Loans fail to pay back their federal loan on time.

Because loans are guaranteed by the federal government, Ottawa is forced to pay off the bank that made the loan and assume the debt itself.

Since federal student loans began 20 years ago, students have defaulted on a total of $1.5 billion, a third of which has so far been collected.

In recent years, the federal government has become increasingly aggressive in col- lecting student loans. Two years ago, it began withholding income tax refunds to defaulters. In 1992-3, the government spent $23 million on collection, recovering nearly $100 million in defaults.

Some federal officials, including Hu- man Resources Minister Lloyd Axworthy, have used these figures to justify an upcoming overhaul of the student loan system, which will give control of collection to the banks themselves.

They estimate this move will save them several million dollars in collection costs a year.

But officials at the University of To- ronto and the Ontario Education Ministry say the problem doesn’t lie with students who resist paying; it rests in problems with the federal student loan program itself.

Richard Jackson, an official in On- tario’s own student aid program, says a sig-

| nificant cause of the high default rate is the

reliance on private collection agencies to track down defaulters.

Ontario’s governmentuses its own pub- lic collection agency, theCentral Collection Service. That is part of the reason Ontario’s loan default rate is two percent, rather than the seven per cent Ottawa writes off, Jackson says.

*It seems to be quite clear that Central

Collection does a better job than do private collection agencies,’ Jackson said. There are other reasons, Jackson says.

informed way. You don’t know the interest rate [on your loan]. You don’t know how much the province is going to forgive.”’

Sidebottom says the federal government also

Ontario loan amounts have historically been smaller than federal loans, making them easier to collect. And Ontario spends more on interest relief programs for underemployed loan recipi- ents. That relief helps avoid the need forsome write offs, he says.

*”We’ ll keep your Ontario student loan in good standing for people who are underem-

ployed. It has a significant impact in being able to meet the full repayment obligation.

**David Sidebottom is the student aid manager at the University of Toronto. He agrees that the federal program is badly designed.

”’There’s a lot more the federal govern- ment could be doing to try and cut back the defaults.’’

Sidebottom says the federal government could provide more information, both for stu- dents considering a federal loan, and for students who are about to pay back their loan and need to know how much they owe.

”?That whole area is something we aren’t doing avery good job in atthe moment,’’ he said.

**Borrowers should be borrowing in an

uses a pretty inflexible repayment plan, com- pared to other countries. All federal loan repayments are on a 10-year repayment plan.

By contrast, in the United States, stu- dents can choose from avariety of options, and even change their option midway, Sidebottom said.

Gerry Godsoe, an official with the student assistance branch of the Human Re- sources Department, declined to comment on whether the reason for large loan defaults is problems with the program or students them- selves.

’*What’s important is what the gov- ernment thinks,’’ Godsoe said. 3

But Godsoe also said his opinion is that the system is not as bad as the $1 billion default figure would seem to indicate.

**T guess you could agree the system has worked. Two million students have gone through the program. The bulk of students gothrough and pay on time without any prob- lem.”’

Rick Martin, policy advisor for the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, agrees.

The problem of student loan collection is a very minor problem thathas been blown out of proportion, said Martin.’’The over- whelming majority will pay off their student loan completely.’’

But the future of student loan collec- tion in Canada is uncertain,says Martin. On one hand, the federal government is negotiat- ing to hand over collection duties to banks, something that could happen as early as Janu- ary.

But at the same time, Axworthy has proposed instituting an income contingent loan repayment scheme, which would collect student loans through the income tax system.

”T think he [Axworthy] doesn’t really know himself where he’sgoing at this point,”’ Martin said.

(Source:The Varsity, University of Toronto)

EDUCATION: Students unite to protest

social reform

By Gavin Kerr

(CUP)

£E OOK OUT LIOYD AXWORTHY.

Students are pushing aside their personal and political differences as they rally behind a

Nov. 16 student protest on Parliament Hill. ~ National and provincial student or- ganizations, as well as individual universi-

ties, associations of professors, colleges, unions andeven high schools will be protesting against the human resources minister’s social reform proposals.

Guy Caron, national chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), com- mitted the group to the protest, which was origi- nally organized by the Students’ Federation of

the University of Ottawa (SFUO).

“*Wesee it as an important step in what must be continued pressureon the govern- ment,’’ Caron said.

SFUO president Jean-Franois Venne was also happy to have the head of the CFS support the protest. ‘‘What’s important right

continued on page 6

November 15, 1994