![[University of Waterloo]](/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
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Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
![[Blue, green and gray]](/images/2004/0823shirts.gif)
'Lots of shirts'
have arrived at Renison College, says Caroline Woerns, the
college's director of development and alumni affairs, since the
last issue of Renison Reports asked alumni to send
in T-shirts from their campus days. "The shirts will be used," she
notes, "to make a
45th anniversary commemorative quilt." Joanne Bynoe, Kourtney
Parker and Harikla
Zafiris show off a selection of what's come in so far.
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The OSAP changes were announced by Mary Anne Chambers, minister of training, colleges and universities, as a plan "to invest $20.9 million . . . to increase the availability and accessibility of OSAP to more than 50,000 students province wide."
Changes to the OSAP program include reduced parental contribution requirements that take financial situations into consideration, and a revised definition of an "independent student" that recognizes students who have been out of high school for at least four years, or in the work force for more than two years, as financially independent from their parents.
Says Jones: "These changes bring more consistency between the federal and provincial assessments and result in more students being eligible for government loans."
The government didn't say what the average reduction in parental contribution would be, but cited one example -- a student from a family with $54,000 in total average income, who will now have to produce $730 in parental contribution compared to $1,500 under the previous rules.
The province did estimate that about 7,000 more students each year will qualify as "independent" and able to get loans without a contribution being expected from their parents.
While the changes will give more students access to OSAP, Jeff Henry, vice-president (education) of the Federation of Students, points out that "the total amount of financial aid available to students continues to remain unchanged. The OSAP maximum has been frozen at $9,350 since 1994, during which time tuition has increased by over 137%."
Henry goes on to say that the student financial aid system "still needs significant reform in order to ensure truly accessible post-secondary education in Ontario." He said student leaders "will continue to bring our concerns" forward through the review that's being done this summer and fall by former premier Bob Rae, and will "hold the government accountable to ensure the recommendations developed are in the best interest of Ontario's students."
The recent package of OSAP changes also includes creation of a "Debt Reduction in Repayment Program" to help "students who have been out of school for more than five years, have exhausted interest relief and are still earning too little to afford their monthly student loan payments".
And OSAP loans will now be available to "protected persons", a category that includes federally-designated Convention Refugees.
And the government "has added greater flexibility to its 12-month residency rule so that recent immigrants qualify sooner for student loan assistance".
Electrical and computer engineering. Arman Vassighi, "Thermal and Power Management for High Performance VLSIs." Supervisor, M. Sachdev. On display in the faculty of engineering, CPH room 4367. Oral defence, Tuesday, September 7, 10 a.m., Davis Centre room 1304.
Combinatorics and optimization. Kerri Pyper Webb, "Counting Bases." Supervisor, J. F. Geelen. On display in the faculty of mathematics, MC room 5090. Oral defence, Tuesday, September 7, 10 a.m., Math and Computer room 5136B.
Health studies and gerontology. Eileen Grace, "An Epidemiological Study to Develop a Prediction Rule to Diagnose Organic and Functional Dyspepsia and Reflux Esophagitis in a Patient Population Who Presented to Their Primary Care Physician with Uninvestigated Dyspepsia." Supervisor, Paul McDonald. On display in the faculty of applied health sciences, BMH room 3120. Oral defence, Thursday, September 9, 10 a.m., Matthews Hall room 3119.
Biology. Luiz A. R. Pereira, "Developmental Expression of Two Methyl-Recycling Enzymes in Arabidopsis Thaliana." Supervisor, B. A. Moffatt. On display in the faculty of science, ESC room 254A. Oral defence, Friday, September 10, 9:30 a.m., Biology I room 266.
Statistics and actuarial science. Marc Fredette, "Prediction of Recurrent Events." Supervisor, J. F. Lawless. On display in the faculty of mathematics, MC room 5090. Oral defence, Friday, September 10, 10 a.m., Math and Computer room 6007.
Philosophy. Hendrik van der Breggen, "Miracle Reports, Moral Philosophy, and Contemporary Science." Supervisor, Joseph Novak. On display in the faculty of arts, HH room 317. Oral defence, Friday, September 10, 10 a.m., Humanities room 334.
Earth sciences. Walid Labaky, "Theory and Testing of a Device for Measuring Point-Scale Groundwater Velocities." Supervisors. R. W. Gillham and J. F. Devlin. On display in the faculty of science, ESC room 254A. Oral defence, Tuesday, September 14, 1:30 p.m., Davis Centre room 1302.
Chemical engineering. Jianying Gao, "Robust Control Design of Gain-scheduled Controllers for Nonlinear Processes." Supervisor, H. Budman. On display in the faculty of engineering, CPH room 4367. Oral defence, Friday, September 17, 10:30 a.m., Doug Wright Engineering Building room 2534.
Speaking of CIGI, and its home in the former Seagram Museum building, the organization will hold an "economic governance seminar" on Thursday afternoon. The speaker is John Whalley of the University of Western Ontario, talking about "Globalization and Values". His talk starts at 2 p.m., preceded by "a light lunch" at 1:30 -- e-mail cbordman@cigionline.ca for reservations.
A short walk away from CIGI is the crowded headquarters of the Waterloo Public Library, which has been something of a political issue in the city for the past several years. A task force has been looking at the library's future for the past year and a half, and presented its report to city council earlier this month. It calls for WPL to build a new main library in the downtown area, with new branches in the east and west ends of the city, joining the existing McCormick branch library in the north end. Task force chair Frank Leong told council that WPL "needs to pursue partnerships with Waterloo's two universities so citizens can have easier access to their academic libraries."
Water will be shut off in the Student Life Centre tomorrow from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. so plant operations can replace a broken valve. . . . Here's a reminder that fall term fees are due August 30 if paid by cheque, September 8 by bank transfer. . . . Bob Copeland of the development office reports that "a focus group of alumni council members" is reviewing UW's donor recognition program, which includes the President's Circle and similar groups for high-ranking individual givers. . . .
The shutoff of hot water in most buildings on the main campus continues, and is scheduled to last until 11:00 tonight. Looking ahead: electrical power will be shut off across the main campus this Sunday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., the plant operations department warns. I'll say more about that shutoff later in the week.
CAR