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| Last updated at 8:34 AM on 14/07/08 |
Province wins case against Aruba university 
Court
ALISHA MORRISSEY
The Telegram
Medical students from this province won't be getting student loans to attend university in Aruba - not that any have applied.
The All Saints University of Medicine in Aruba took this province's Education Department to court over the department's decision to suspend student loan status that it had previously granted to the university.
The province was justified in choosing to revoke that initial decision, says Supreme Court Justice Robert Hall, who presided over the arguments.
Furthermore, the medical school in Aruba - which has never had an applicant from this province - will have to pay the province's legal fees in relation to the case.
The university originally approached the province in January 2005 and asked that it be designated as an "educational institution" under the province's student loans program, meaning that students in this province could apply for student loans to attend the university.
According to the Student Financial Assistance Act, if this province designated the university as an educational institution under the loans program, students from any other Canadian province could apply for federal loans to attend the school.
Officials within the Education Department testified that the minister agreed to allow the loans program designation in July 2005, despite the school not being operational for two years as required in most cases.
The province contended that a "major consideration," in allowing the designation was that the university had what's known as Title IV funding status from the United States, which includes a stringent evaluation process and investigation of schools.
Despite advertising on its website that the medical school had Title IV status, the province became aware that, in fact, it did not.
As a result, the Education Department sent a letter to the school revoking the designation allowing student loans to local students.
Meanwhile, in late 2006, under the direction of a committee that one of the Education Department's directors is on, regulations for granting student loans designation changed - making it imperative that a university be operational for 10 years instead of two to get a student loan designation.
The university was notified of this change, but not before officials there wrote a letter to the province saying that the school had been continually operational for two years and asking if that changed the status of the university's student loans designation, allowing loans to become available again.
It was at that point the school filed suit against the province, asking the courts to force education officials to honour the original rules of designation, instead of the new ones.
Hall ultimately decided with the province, saying that there was no duty on the education minister to act, it is his or her discretion that determines whether to allow the designation, as well, the school should have started a new application process after having its original application suspended.
amorrissey@thetelegram.com
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14/07/08
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