Ontario tries to collect on old debts
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Topic: Ontario tries to collect on old debts
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Subject: Ontario tries to collect on old debts
Date Posted: 02/June/2004 at 11:34am
The Leader-Post (Regina) 2004)
TORONTO (CP) -- Julie Pocock thought she'd paid off her student debts years ago -- until a collection notice arrived in her mailbox.
Pocock, who graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University in 1993, is among more than 5,600 former university students -- some from as far back as the Class of 1981 -- suddenly getting collection notices from the province for OSAP grant overpayments totalling $5.1 million.
"Isn't there a statute of limitations on these kinds of things?" Pocock, of Waterloo, Ont., said Monday.
Her bill comes to $340 -- a sliver of the $10.5 million in Ontario Student Assistance Program overpayments made between 1981 and 1996, according to the provincial auditor.
"This is not small potatoes. This is a lot of money," said Dave Ross, spokesman for Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.
When students applied for grants, they were asked to estimate how much they planned to earn in wages during the year.
They often made more than anticipated, meaning they qualified for less in grants.
"If you put down $5,000 and you made $12,000, then obviously you have to inform the ministry (and say) 'whoops, here's how much it is," said Ross.
Pocock received an OSAP grant for approximately $3,000 in 1991- 92 while studying geography at Wilfrid Laurier.
She graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1993 and thought she had squared up her accounts long ago.
"Who knew that the government is secretly digging around in 20- year-old records to scam as much money as possible from people who have already cleared their names," said Pocock, who now works as an admissions specialist at the University of Waterloo.
An initial batch of 3,663 collection notices, seeking $3.3 million in overpayments, were mailed out during a three-month period beginning November 2000.
But the collection program was put on hold until earlier this year because the ministry had trouble proving the money was owed.
Another 5,681 collection notices went out in March this year.
Individual bills range from $200 to $1,000 and a total of $5.1 million is being sought.
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