AUGUST 30, 1983
Ministry

by Caroline Hardon

Dear Mom and Dad-

College looks like it will be
okay. Please send money.
Love

Godfrey

That may be a familiar plea
from some students as loans
and grants are expected to be
delayed this year.

Anne Fenton from Financial
Aid has estimated that no one
will receive any money until at
least mid September, and that
date is for those who applied
in mid-June.

What has caused this late-
ness? It’s not the fault of
Financial Aid in the College,
and it’s not the fault of
Student Finance in Victoria.
The problems are coming from
the Ministry of Education.

The Financial

didn’t get the go ahead to
process the loan applications
until August 11. With over 300
applicants this year, one can
imagine how long this will
take. All the applications will
be processed in the order in
which they were received,
. Every week clarifications on
parts of the applications are
arriving from Victoria. The
biggest reasons cited for this
slowness are the election and
the new budget. Some of the
rules have been changed.

Because of all the last minute
changes, processing the appli-
cations has been time consum-
ing and tedious. Financial Aid
officers are constantly having
to refer to the changes. If a
mistake is made the process is
slowed down more.

How much have the require-
ments for student aid chang-

Aid office .

 

ed? Enough to make a big
difference to some students.
Students who lived with their
parents or guardians over the
summer are now classified as
group A applicants. Students
who drive a car, registered to
or maintained by their parents
or guardians during the school
term are also considered
group A applicants. If a stu-

 

THE OTHER PRESS

makes money tardy

dent receives over $600 dollars
in monies from a parent or
guardian he/she is now a
group A applicant. What this
all means is that students who
were previously assessed as
group B independents and
rely on a little help from
parents are now being assess-
ed as dependents, lessening
their chances for aid.

There have been changes
made to the grant portion as
well. Effective-immediately a
student must have passed 60
percent of his/her courses in
the Spring 1983 semester to
receive a grant. This 60 per-
cent pass rate will go up in the
1984/1985 school year to 80
percent. Students will have to
produce evidence of their

marks to claim their grants

.this year. For those students

who had a bad Spring sem-
ester, they will be eligible for

PAGE 3

News

the loan portion only.

Anne explains, ‘‘We know
that there is a time limit for
students and that they will be
inconvenienced by what is
happening, it’s frustrating for’
us because we have no control
over the situatign.”’

The earliest applicants
should receive averification in
the first week of September.
Anne added, ‘‘All we ask is
that students are aware that
we are doing the best we can
under the circumstances.”’

Photo by Sean Valentini

 

Marion Exmann, Chairperson of B:C:G-E:U: bargaining unit, and Bob Corbet,
personnel director sign agreeme nt.

 

Faculty Ass. shows support for B-C-G-E-U:

The Editor,

The Other Press,
Douglas College,
New Wesminster.

Dear Editor:

I am writing as President of
the Douglas and Kwantlen
Faculty Association to appeal
to the students to support the
actions of the Douglas College
staff who are attempting to
renew their Collective Agree-
ment with the College admini-
stration. The staff, who are
members of the British Col-
umbia Government Employ-
ees’ Union (B.C.G.E.U.) have
been without a contract since
October 1982 and therefore
without a raise in pay since

October 1981.

The staff of this College have
worked exceptionally hard,
especially in the last two years
in the face of cut-backs and
work overlaods, to ensure that
the College has been able to
operate effectively. Their re-
ward has been that the Coll-
ege has refused to settle with
them. I think this treatment is
very shabby indeed. The Coll-
ege Board should now do the
right thing by their employees
and settle on a new contract.

In the event that job action is
taken, the D.K.F.A. will sup-
port the staff in any way we
can. We realize this will create
problems for students. I would
like to suggest, however, that
faculty and student support

tor the Douglas College statt
will be the most effective way
of bringing the dispute to a
quick resolution or even avoid-
ing a work stoppage entirely.

In solidarity,

Ralph Stanton
President, D.K.F.A.

Editor's note: Mr. Stanton
wrote this letter on August 17,

‘several days earlier than any

student submission. Since
then on August 25, the B.C.-
G.E.U. and the College ad-
ministration have reached a
settlement. Therefore job act-
ton will not occur. We are
printing this letter because it
shows the Faculty Associat-
ton’s concern about this im-
portant issue.

Half an
education?

To the Editor:

As a student, I wouldn’t

mind returning to ‘‘the pupil-
teacher ratio of 1975-6 and
more direct control of all
portions of school districts
budgets by the Minister of
Education’’ -- as the Ministry

of Education’s news release |

put it August 7 -- if the same
level of education was avail-
able as at 1975-6, and if the
Ministry of Education would
take responsibility for the
ridiculous lack of pan-
determinism taught now in
classes such as economics

Letters

here at Douglas College.
While the Ministry took great
pains to stuff the ranks of
educators with RIGHT think-
ing teachers since 1975-6, in
the meantime, it also let go
those who could at least teach
a decent left viewpoint. What
kind of education is half an
education? RIGHT education?

Susan Knox