Mr. Pierce Connolly:

Yes, that is no problem. The first question concerned student loans. We have not made an informed decision as to whether student loans would be good or bad for us so we will not answer that question.

The second question concerned colleges letting us know whether they are private institutions, which is the case. However, our problem is that when we apply through the CAO, we are not told that because we are applying for a particular college we will not get a SUSI grant. One will not see that anywhere on the application form and that is our problem. It is not that the college has not said that it is a private institution; it is that the CAO does not tell us that because we are applying to a particular private institution, we will not get a SUSI grant. My situation is that I applied to Griffith College and then, once I accepted the offer, I was sent back a letter from SUSI stating I would not get any sort of funding from SUSI. That left my family in a very difficult situation as we had to take out credit union loans, borrow from my grandparents and so on. I know of further cases in which people had to borrow from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul as well.

Every student who is eligible for a SUSI grant but is not getting it is behind us. It is just that we cannot bring 200 students in here. They are fully behind us. I have talked to so many students. Yesterday I was talking to one who shook my hand and said, "Thank you so much for doing this for us. This will help me. This will benefit me so much." The person about whom I am talking and who I will not name works ridiculous hours. He does his college work and then goes straight to work four or five days a week after college. In that regard, every student who is eligible for a SUSI grant is 100% behind us and backing us.

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