Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to raise my concerns regarding northern students who have received GNWT Student Financial Assistance to attend college and university. At present, we have a number of students who are suffering financially, and it is because of the policies of this government that these students are in jeopardy of not being able to afford to complete their education. It has recently come to my attention that verification of a student’s requirements for SFA is not being confirmed prior to disbursing funds for the second semester of the school year. Student transcripts are not requested between semesters nor are we receiving any kind of confirmation of completion of studies, which leaves many students at risk for being requested to refund their entire year.

If a student does not completely understand the impact of non-compliance, by withdrawing from a course or not obtaining their required percentage of a full course load to continue in the SFA program, the consequences are devastating. Some students have unknowingly deviated from regulations and are not aware that they have even caused an infraction in the first semester. They are not notified that they have breached the regulations until the end of the school year. I am aware of three students from Hay River who have been requested to return their full year of SFA funding prior to being able to reapply for assistance for the next school year. This demand for repayment was received only a few short weeks before they were scheduled to return to school.

These are full-time students, unemployed or working part-time to subsidize their living expenses while at school. Most students do not have sufficient funds to carry them through the school year without assistance from parents or a part-time job. How would we expect them to repay thousands of dollars within two or three weeks of starting their next school year? Without the option for applying for alternative student loans, which is not acceptable to SFA, these students must depend on their parents who are not always able to come up with thousands of dollars to repay this debt for them. This could mean the end of their education, Mr. Speaker. There must be a more efficient and effective way to monitor a student’s performance in the first semester, so that it isn’t necessary to present them with a bill for their full year of education at the end of the second semester if they deviated inadvertently from the regulations.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Thank you.

Speaker: MR. SPEAKER

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude her statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays, Mrs. Groenewegen. You may conclude your statement.

Jane Groenewegen

Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We ask our young people to return to their home here in the Northwest Territories to work, and we are in desperate need of these graduates and their educational experience to complement our northern workforce. It is unrealistic and unfair to be penalizing these students at the end of the year. There must be a mechanism put in place to prevent this type of nightmare from happening to any more students. Mr. Speaker, I will have questions today for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment regarding this important subject. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause