ee So Se ee April 2, 2003 Government expects too much of parents, says new study News http://otherpress.douglas.bc.ca Student flid Programs Need Assistance Chris Wilson-Smith Ontario Bureau TORONTO (CUP)—The — government expects too much of parents when it comes to sending their children to university, a new report suggests. The study, commissioned by the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation, estab- lished by the federal government in 1998 to award grants to “needy students,” and to improve access to post-secondary education. The report revealed that student assistance programs routinely expect families with pre-tax incomes of over $80,000 to contribute at least $10,000 per year to their childrens’ education. But according to another recently-released report by the Foundation, only 3 percent of students actually receive this level of support from their parents. “While Canada’s student aid programs for the most part provide students adequate assis- tance, this study shows that specific problems exist within the system,” said Alex Usher, direc- tor of research and program development for the Foundation. Fred Hemingway, the author of the report, writes: “It is the general consensus that parental contribution levels are too high for some familes. He concludes that a number of middle- income parents have difficulty because of other living costs or the “inability to save.” The report also describes student loan levels, which haven't increased in almost a decade, even though tuition has increased by at least 85 percent over the same time period. “If loan limits were appropriate in 1994, they may be considered less than adequate now,” the report states. Hemingway, a former chief executive officer of the Alberta Student Finance Board, said financial aid administrators he interviewed “all confirm the message that unmet need is increasing.” “This study shows that stagnant loan limits have created serious problems of unmet need among certain groups of students,” Alex Usher concluded. Many students who need financial support but cannot qualify for government student aid must resort to private lines of credit to finance their education, and many of these students fail to meet the requirements set out by private loan providers, the report says. Its the “insufficient maximum assistance limits” which concern Hemingway the most. The consequences of this are felt most severe- ly among students with high costs to meet, Canada Could Lose Control of the other press such as students from rural areas and tho with dependents, he concludes. “Unmet need” could lead to a decreased pe sistence among students from low-econo backgrounds and a high reliance on priva debt, as well as students working long hou All of these conditions could serve to length¢ the student’s academic career, Hemingw: reports. But the Canadian Federation of Students longtime critic of the Foundation—argues th increasing loan limits only hurts students in th end. “The Foundation has attempted to doc ment the level of financial hardship faced | students, yet they fail to draw the obvious co clusion that increasing tuition fees, especial in professional programs, is the primary sour of unmet financial need,” said Joel Duf Ontario Chairperson of the Canadiz Federation of Students. Duff said the only way to soften the blow q student finances is to lower tuition. “The raison d’étre of the Millenniu Scholarship Foundation continues to be one ideological justification for the federal gover ment’ failure to adequately address the crisis post-secondary education,” he said. ‘happiest: Mie ih, Pgh Northwest Passage, Says Prof Countries may want to use key Arctic waterway Tina Sawchuk The Gateway EDMONTON (CUP)—Canada will lose control over the Northwest Passage in the next five years if the government doesn’ take action now, said University of Alberta political science professor Morris Maduro. Maduro, a visiting professor from the University of Regina, spoke to a small but attentive group of professors and students March 13. His lecture—entitled “The Northwest Passage, Canada, and the United States: On a Collision Course in Troubled Waters’—was part of the department” _ series, “Reshaping Globalization: Empires, Gender, Race & Class.” The Northwest Passage, a 3,500 mile- long strait through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, was first explored by Europeans in the 1570s, and was impene- trable for centuries. Enter global warming, said Maduro. Arctic ice is melting at a rate of nine percent every year, and areas the size of Alberta disappear every decade. © page 4 “In five years, the Passage will be navi- gable in the summer, and in 10 years, in the winter,” Maduro warned. “This will become one of the hottest issues dividing Canada from the US.” The rest of the world is watching, he said. The Panama Canal is currently the main route for trans-oceanic shipping, but rising tolls, Panama's unstable govern- ment, and the threat of terrorism have forced European, and particularly American businesses to look north. “For 25 years, they've goaded Canada, tweaked its nose, and sent vessels through [the passage],” Maduro said. But international law also works against Canada, said Maduro. Under the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention, a United Nations document ratified by over 150 countries, the Northwest Passage is one of 110 straits worldwide to be classified as “critical.” Canada is powerless to limit access to and travel through the Passage. Maduro also emphasized environmental concerns. Canada already has 624 ship- ping accidents annually, which harm wildlife and cost millions to clean up. If an oil spill occurred, like that of the Exxon Valdez in 1989, which spilled 11 million tonnes of crude oil into the Passage, the Arctic ecosystem would be catastrophically affected. Yet the Canadian government will do nothing, he argued. Maduro’s contacts in the Department of External Affairs told him, “We don’t want to wake the sleeping lion. We hope the melting won't occur.” Canadian military commitment in the Arctic is minimal, he described. There are army bases at Inuvik in Nunavut and Alert in the Northwest Territories, 1,500 mobile Inuit Rangers, and 500 soldiers stationed in Yellowknife. But despite international laws prevent- ing submarines from traveling submerged in straits, the Canadian navy sighted 12 periscopes near Baffin Island in August Maduro called on Canada to present th Passage as an “unusual” body of wate because of its unique length, navigationa hazards, and ecosystem, and said h believed Canada could secure specia recognition and international funding fo the Passage’s protection. Tom Keating, the respondent td Maduro’s lecture and a fellow professor ij the department, stressed the controvers will reshape the way Canadians see thei country. He suggested bilateral cooperation with Americans to reduce the future economi pressure of maintaining the Passage fo shipping and to develop commercia opportunities. But Canada must ac quickly, said Keating. “(Canadian folk singer] Stan Roger: called the Passage ‘one warm line throug a land so wide and savage.’ The line’ widening, and Canadian sovereignty i going to be savaged.”