Important News Article!!!

Here's another update with regards to these pesky Grant Reassessments:

After doing some research with the debts that the Ontario Government is trying to get back, I found an article regarding this:

Recouping Ont. student grant overpayments ensures funds for needy: Chambers
May 11, 2004
 
TORONTO (CP) -- Ontario's move to recoup provincial grant overpayments is to ensure funding is available for students who need it, and is not meant to punish former students, said the minister of training, colleges and universities.
 "We have done this in a very responsible and thoughtful manner and we want to just make sure that we have money for students who really need the money," Mary Ann Chambers said Tuesday before a caucus meeting.

 The province has turned $5.1 million in grant overpayments under the Ontario Student Assistance Program over to a collection agency to go after about 5,600 students.
 The bills go as far back as 1981 and some former students, who thought they had long ago settled their school debts, were surprised to receive collection notices.
 "This is not intended to hurt people; this is intended to protect the integrity of the system," said Chambers.
 The government doesn't plan to take former students to court if they don't make the repayments, and it won't leave a black mark on former students' credit ratings, said Chambers.
 She said the grant overpayments are the result of the assistance program paying students at the beginning, not the end, of the school year.
 Students applying for grants give assistance program officials an estimate of their income for the year and the number courses they plan to take. However, that can change over the course of a year, and a student can earn a higher income than estimated or can end up dropping courses.
 Students also sign a contract saying they'll let the program know if their information changes, said Dave Ross, a spokesman for the ministry.
 Chambers noted that those changes can mean a student would qualify for a smaller grant, and any extra funds have to be repaid.
 The provincial auditor estimated in a 1997 report that program made $10.5 million in overpayments between 1981 and 1996, and urged the ministry to collect them.
 "We've identified an overpayment and we're just seeking back taxpayers' dollars," said Ross.
 "Other students have all paid back their student loans and other students are paying back their overpayments. It makes the system more fair for everyone and more accessible for everyone."
 Between November 2000 and February 2001, 3,663 collection notices were sent out totalling $3.3 million. So far, $1.5 million has been repaid, said Ross.
 In March, another 5,681 collection notices went out, with individual bills ranging from $100 to $1,000 for the $5.1 million total.
 Of the remaining $2.1 million, the auditor noted, part of it has been written off as bad debts -- such as if a former student can't be found or is now deceased -- while another portion is in the process of being paid back through repayment arrangements, said Ross. No interest is being collected on outstanding amounts.
 To prevent grant overpayments, students' income records are now compared each year with Canada Customs and Revenue Agency files, and overpayments are dealt with promptly, said Ross.
 Universities must now also let Ontario's assistance program know if a student drops a course or leaves school, he said.

Armed with this interesting bit of information, I called my friendly neighbourhood collection agent and quizzed him on this, especially the parts about not taking people to court and not affecting the credit ratings. He confirmed that was correct and basically I could expect a call every once in a while and that there is really nothing they can do to claim this money. However my file may go from agency to agency for the next several decades.

What I'm thinking of doing now, to get my file out of the collection agencies and mothballed in some government file is that whenever I receive a call or letter from an agent is to call the following person:

Vijay Kandiah

Contract Management & Client Services Officer

COLLECTION MANAGEMENT UNIT

(416) 327-3349

vijay.kandiah@mbs.gov.on.ca

and ask him to remove my file from collections. Perhaps some others may find this a useful contact???

I'll let you know how this goes.         & nbsp;         & nbsp;         & nbsp;       

Waku do you have a direct link to the article or did you just retype it?  What I really want to know is who wrote it, so maybe I can try to contact them?
  My wife is being sued in small claims court for her grant overpayment from 1992, so I'm trying everything I can to gather more info.  We talked to MBS and they said this is the first time they have heard of a case going to court.