Like a lot of former university students, Julian Benedict graduated with a fairly sizable debt: $40,000. Unlike most, the SFU history grad has turned to political activism to improve the lot of current and future student debtors.

Benedict is a cofounder of the recently formed Coalition for Student Loan Fairness. "We want to educate the public about how bad the system really is–and about how many people are out there struggling with student loans and not getting the help that they need with programs set up by government," Benedict told the Georgia Straight.

The coalition has launched an on-line petition (www.ipetitions.com/petition/StudentLoanFairness/) to press for its demands. As the Straight approached its editorial deadline, almost 500 people had signed their names.

"My goal is to get government action on this issue, on issues of repayment, and to deal with the fact that we have amongst the highest interest rates in terms of student-loan repayment in the G8 [countries]," Benedict said.

The petition calls for a significant reduction or elimination of interest charged on student loans, arguing that this would reduce the number of defaults and collection costs. "Borrowers are faced with interest of 7.5–8.5% or greater yet the government's cost of borrowing is merely 3.5%," the petition states.

The coalition has also called for improved access to grants, interest relief, and debt reduction, as well as for the creation of a student-loan ombudsman office. In addition, the petition demands up-to-date and accurate student-loan statements. One recommendation is that where students have more than one loan, the balances be combined into a single loan with one monthly payment.

There is also a call for the enforcement of "Student Loan Collection Directives" to "abusive collection agents who improperly threaten legal action, have been verbally abusive, and have violated provincial collections guidelines". The petition states that a "Borrower Bill of Rights" would reduce harassment of debtors.

The last two demands are for the reinstatement of a six-month interest- and payment-free period following graduation, as well as hardship relief for anyone with student loans who becomes disabled. Under the current rules, hardship relief is only available for those who become disabled within six months of graduation.

Benedict said that he recently received a call from former Ontario premier Bob Rae, who is interested in hearing more about the coalition's ideas. Meanwhile, Campus 2020: Thinking Ahead, a new report commissioned by the B.C. government, has recommended "a comprehensive review of our complex student financial assistance program".

The 108-page report's author, former B.C. attorney general Geoff Plant, told the Straight that he heard some "very powerful horror stories from students" as he conducted his review. "It is almost byzantine in its complexity if you try to figure out all of the different rules and qualifying criteria," he said.

Plant said that he thinks the government needs to adopt a principle that financial assistance is there for those who need it, rather than making a priority of universally based programs that "tend to provide benefits disproportionately to people who arguably need them less". He also said research shows that students from lower socioeconomic brackets tend to be averse to taking on debt.

"We have to find a way to target a program that reaches those people, and that probably needs to use , and that probably needs to use grants," Plant said.