Government denies financial assistance to University of Manitoba students
Minister of education responds to students' union request for aid

Gord Reid, Toban Staff

In a letter from Minister of Education Linda McIntosh, she states that the provincial government would not make any concessions to students affected by the strike under the Student Hardship Fund or Manitoba Study Assistance.

In a letter to the minister. dated November 22, UMSU President David Gratzer and Vice-President Vikram Nair petitioned for further assistance to students hurt by the strike. The letter cited both increased incidental expenses and lost earnings from the Christmas break as factors affecting students' pocketbooks.

The minister's response, in a letter dated December 1st, addressed the issues at hand by stating that the Manitoba Student Financial Assistance Program would not contribute to the Student Hardship Fund, created by donations from the university and UMFA's Board of Representatives.

The fund was set up by the university at the end of the faculty strike, in order to help offset the burden felt by students experiencing financial problems. The fund now totals $105,000.

"At this time," the letter explains, "it appears that there will be adequate resources allocated by the university to the hardship fund to cover current expenses."

If the current amount in the fund is insufficient to meet the needs of students, the university has been given the option of using money saved during the strike that has already been forwarded by the provincial government.

The Financial Assistance Program assesses applicants' potential contribution to their education at 80 per cent of their expected earnings. Thus, students are expected to use their unassessed surplus to cover any additional expenses incurred by the strike.

"Because applicants have access to other resources not considered in assessment of financial need, such as income tax refunds and GST credits," the minister says in the letter, "additional assessed need has to be met by loans rather than in the form of study assistance.'

Additional incidental expenses caused by the strike cannot be covered by the Financial Assistance Program because the total length of the school year was not extended beyond the date calculated in the original assessment.

Students who are experiencing financial troubles as a direct effect of the strike may apply for Student Hardship Fund bursaries by filling out an application at Financial Aid and Awards located at 422 University Centre.

This article first ran in The Manitoban, Vol. 83, No. 17 (December 6, 1995). This article may be the first news article that doesn't make me cringe when I read it. It's matter-of-fact, informative, and covers both ends of the issue.

This article also marks the first successful use of my scanner's OCR to input the article text. Yay me.