Letter of the Week: Cruelty, the B.C. student loans way
Sean Hibbitts
I would like you to imagine, for a second, being a cute little bunny rabbit and having someone dangle a carrot in front of you. This is the best carrot ever and you rush for it, dreaming of all that carroty goodness in your little bunny belly. Then a person pulls the carrot away and proceeds to chomp that carrot down, destroying your dreams of the full belly and leaving you with a headache ‘cause you bumped your head on your cage. An instance like this would be considered animal cruelty. But when it’s B.C. student loans doing the carrot dangling I don’t think they consider it cruelty.
This happened to my friend who is a single mom. She is trying to get through school at Douglas College to be able to provide a better life for her son. Her problems started this summer when she received a letter from the Ministry of Advanced Education stating that she would receive no further funding because she had maxed out, and that she had been grandfathered under the old rules for student loans and would therefore be ineligible for future loans. It also suggested she should get a bank loan to pay for her further education costs. Of course, she did what any sane person would do and appealed. The ‘fair and impartial’ decision came back (not even in an apologetic manner) saying their appeals committee had decided that her situation was not extenuating enough to allow authorisation of any further funds. The first big ‘fuck you’ came in the form of a $341.99 cheque from the ministry, which was to max out her student loans account so there would be no chance of her applying for a new student loan. She, of course, called to find out why they did this to her and, in a bizarre turn of events, the ministry’s representative told her not to think about going to the media with this story.
This woeful tale continues. My friend recently received a $3,500 bursary from the government, and as she was buying groceries her debit card was declined. She went to the bank and found out the government had put a stop payment on that bursary, so she called up her MLA to complain about this outrage. She received some support from the MLA, but in the end she feels defeated and I fear she might consider giving up. Ironically, her picture is on a folder that the Douglas College loans office gives out with forms for student loan applications, and it has a tag line saying something like “Douglas College: Success Starts Here.”
As much as I detest student loans, I understand they provide opportunities for many students across our province. But I think it is unbelievable the government can treat people like this. The government can increase the limit on student loans all they want, but it doesn’t solve any problems — especially when you don’t have extenuating enough circumstances. In the end I think it really shows, if not screams, the need for a needs-based grants system here in B.C. Student loans may give the opportunity for education — however, we as Canadians should not be putting such a high price tag on education. We should institute an easy to remember system of three Rs, like with recycling, and it should be something like this “Reduce Debt, Reduce Fees, Receive Grants.” In closing I have only one thing left to say and this is straight to the Ministry of Advanced Education — shame on you, assholes.