January 24,1992 Other News Students Fucked Over Loans TORONTO (CUP) — On- tario continues to prosecute stu- dents who have bilked the gov- ernment’sstudentassistance plan. Joscelyn Scanes-Astin, a provincial student aid investiga- tor, said there are many ways in which students cheat on their Ontario Student Assistance Pro- gram applications. “Loads and loads of stu- dents don’t assess their ts’ assets properly orsay they haven’t worked during the study period when they have,” she said. One student faked a mar- riage certificate to escape assess- ing his parents’ income, and a parent listed “Marcie” as a de- pendent and sibling to the appli- cant. Marcie turned out to be the family dog. ae Deanne Fisher, a liaison officer for the University of To- ronto’s part-time student associa- tion, said media reports on loan fraud can be misleading. “The public and the me- dia focusonobscurecases,” Fisher said. “With any program set up there’sgoing to beasmall number of cases of fraud. If fraud is on the increase, it’s because OSAP is so limited and students are forced into it.” David Sidebottom, a U of T financial aid officer, said appli- cation inconsistencies are not al- waystheresultof intentional fraud but could be only mistaken calcu- lations. “It is something we stress to students, to be very careful when filling out the application.” Scanes-Astin said the ministry is often notified of fraud through a tip from someone who knows the cheater, or through anonymous phone calls. “We've had cases where the father was calling and hand- ing his son in,” she said. “The father was a doctor and was shocked to have a son ripping off OSAP.” When students are charged and convicted of fraud, they must repay the loan and be- come ineligible for future loans from the provincial and federal governments. Recent cases of students being convicted for fraud include: * Claudette Silvera was charged with fraud over $1000 in November, 1991.Shehad received a$1,000 grantand a$2,100 loan to pay tuition fees for a 20-week course at Toronto’s Control Data GIVE IT BACK! _ GATEWAY “PS Bre paltn Institute. She cashed the cheque, withdrew the loan from her bank and didn’t go to any classes. She pleaded guilty and wassentenced to 12 months probation and 60 hours of community service* Michael Berbee wascharged with fraud over $1,000 in April, 1991. He received a Canada Student Loan of $1,785 for an underwa- ter swimming course at the Ca- nadian Underwater Training Centre, and paid his tuition fees by cheque. The cheque bounced and Berbee did notattend classes. He pleaded guilty and was sen- tenced to four months in jail. College by Matthew Martin In an unex move by the Douglas College Student Soci- ety attheirlastmeeting, the execu- tive committee voted to strip long time supporter of the society, Bill Bell, of his honourary member- ship. According to Richard Marion, the reasons for stripping Bell of his membership were “things that happened during the Canadian Federation of Students Employee's DCSS Membership Revoked referendum,” that was conducted during registration. “It was definitely justified...it isjusta result of things happening since the summer, things like bringing the N.D.P. on campus without following hisown guide- lines[foroutsideinterestgroups].” Bell was on a leave of ab- sence when the N.D.P. were on campusforanallcandidates meet- ing sponsored by the DouglasCol- lege Board of Directors. FORWARDS LO RW AeDy> \FORWARD LYFORWA a FO RWARD}’ ‘FORWARD! PIS ay Margaret Murray, secretary tothebursar,said “everything went throught Brad Barber [the publi- cistin theP.1.O.]. remember docu- ments that wentto Brad. Bill wasn’t even around at that time.” Marionalso complained that Bell “was undermining the refer- endum and he wasn’t carrying out hisresponsibilities towards thestu- dents. He was walking around campus and in some instances bad mouthing the society and taking a stand with the C.F.S.” Bell was regretful that the society felt it was necessary to re- voke the honourary membership which was given to his office in 1989 for various services and help such as desk top publishing. “T’msurethishascomeabout as a misunderstanding of what I was doing under the direction of the college,” said Bell. “I've always viewed the honourary membership as not be- ing to me but directed more to- wards the staff of the Public Infor- mation Office, afterall that is what we are here for-for the students.” Bell expressed regret at what he views as a temporary break- downofrelationsbetween the Pub- lic Information Office and the DECSS.. “lalwayshopetohavea good relationship with the student soci- ety and will always help them out any way possible and would help outtomorrow within themandates of my office if they asked.