EDITORIAL

Student Aid and Single Mothers

by Aisla Thomson with Sande Copland

    I dread having to apply for any type of government assistance. Student loans are no exception. If I didn't need it, I sure wouldn't go out of my way for the headache.

    Add to this the current cutbacks. I had heard it gets tougher every year to receive a student loan. This year I was one of the unlucky ones to be turned down for this assistance.

     I support myself and my daughter (from my previous marriage) on a very fixed income (child support and casual employment). I live in a common-law situation and my partner does not support me. But according to government regulations (and they ask for a photocopy), one is deemed to be supported by the person who pays the Alberta Healthcare bill, and my partners earnings have to be declared on my application form. I am informed that the ceiling amount for monthly earnings is $1,260. I don't earn anywhere near that amount, yet I am being penalized for my partner's earnings (which he spends on his bills from his tremendous loan debt from his student days).

    Not only was my student loan application rejected, I was further informed that I should have had "greater savings" than I declared on my application form. Neither my partner nor I have "savings" or "assets" after being students for several years. I attended university continuously from September '86 to August '87. Although I worked at a summer job, I earned slightly above minimum wage and paid for all my spring and summer tuition and other costs by myself. And it didn't take long to deplete these supposed "earnings" barely getting by.

     I was told of the appeal procedure. I have a hard enough time keeping up with the full-time course load, working and living to keep encountering hassles with the student finance board. Even if I do appeal the decision, it will take months, there will be no guarantee of a successful outcome, and I have to live between now and then.

     Continuing their education is a very heavy burden on women. To encounter in- sensitive, outdated bureaucratic discrimination makes it even more of a problem. Certain biases and barriers still exist. Government financial boards penalize women for their personal lives and perceived marital status. It's no wonder that I dread this process, not to mention the other barriers I encounter on the campus maze itself.

Sande Copland
Edmonton, Alberta

    Sande's dilemma is not an isolated case. Under the Ontario Student Assistance Program single parents, mostly single mothers, were recently informed that they would be receiving only the grant and not the loan portion of their student aid. The rationale was that more single parents than others receiving loans default on their payments. More grant and less loan would reduce their debt payments.

    These students were discriminated against on the basis of marital status. The grant portion remanded low and single parents would receive less money for their education!

     Because of the lobbying of student single-mothers and women's organizations the Ontario government revoked this decision. However, the victory may be a hollow one. In the short term, single parents will be better off with a combined loans and grant student-aid package, but the larger financial issues and the underlying bias against women students still need to be dealt with.

    Despite gains made in the area of human rights and legislated equality, women are still considered dependants when it corns to eligibility for student assistance. A married woman must report family income, not her income (or lack of it) when she applies for financial assistance. The government assumes that her husband is willing to pay for her education. As outlined in Kathleen Rockhill's article on women and literacy (Spring 1987), one way to sabotage women's learning is for a male partner to with-hold support-financial or otherwise.

     In Newfoundland this dependency model is extended even further. Single mothers who return to their parents' homes lose their single-parent status. The government assumes that other family members will contribute support, including free childcare!

    In New Brunswick, a single mother can obtain a letter from her doctor stating that her spouse does not contribute to her education financially. While this provides an out for those who know about it, it is not a solution.

    Other financial barriers affect single parents more than others. For example, single-parents on social assistance or those applying for it are discouraged from pursuing education and training because the loan portion of their student aid is deducted from social assistance payments. Being able to deduct the loan when calculating eligibility would encourage the marginalized in our society to enter education and training programs.

    Women like Sande Copland are frustrated by the bureaucratic structures placed in front of them and hindered by the rules and regulations which discourage them from getting the education or training they need to survive from day to day and to gain economic independence. Using individual rather than family income to determine eligibility for student assistance would be a more realistic approach for most women. Raising the ceiling on costs for essentials such as child care is a necessity.

Aisla Thomson is CCLOW's Executive Director, Sande Copland is a student based in Edmonton.