Mega fund may come North
NWT wants share of $2.5 billion Millennuim Fund

by Jeff Colbourne
Northern News Services

NNSL (Apr 22/98) - It is not yet known how much northern college and university students will benefit from a $2.5 billion education fund announced by the federal government in its last budget.

Deputy Minister of Education Mark Cleveland wants NWT's share of the Millennium Fund lumped into the NWT's current student financial assistance program.

"We just don't know at this point how it's going to play itself out," said Cleveland.

The Millennium Fund is expected to provide approximately $325 million a year to support 100,000 scholarships over a 10-year period between 2000-2010.

Students will be eligible for funds worth up to $15,000 over the course of their undergraduate pursuits.

An independent foundation endorsed by an act of federal legislation will manage the fund.

The setting up of the fund has been delayed because the person who was going to run the foundation died. This also led to a delay in discussions about the fund between federal and provincial ministers.

Cleveland does not know how much of the fund will make its way into the territories. It may depend on the eligibility requirements agreed upon by the two governments.

Eligibility may be based on achievement or it may be based on need, said Cleveland.

If it is based upon need, the territories may not see too much of the fund because the federal government may think the GNWT -- which does not participate in the Canada Student Loan Program -- already has a healthy student financial assistance program and does not need help.

In the NWT, approximately 2,000 students apply each year for assistance.

Most provinces are pushing for eligibility by need, said Cleveland.

"In the end I suspect it will be a formula that is structured in some manner to provide equatability between the provinces and territories, regardless of whether you opted out (of the Canada Student Loan Program) or not," said Cleveland.

About 30 per cent of Canadian post-secondary students currently receive government-sponsored student loans.

In the North, under the GNWT program, eligible post-secondary students get one-year of grant money for every three years of schooling they receive in the North. Aboriginal and long-time Northerners are also eligible for a loan to a maximum of $2,400 a year.

There is a primary loan -- $3,200 for single students per year and $4,000 for students with one dependant and $500 for each additional dependant.

Loans are forgiven if students complete their program and come back to the North to work after graduation. For every three months they work here, $750 is wiped off their loan.

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