Nunavut needs to collect on unpaid student loans: Fraser

The Nunavut student assistance program needs to do more to collect unpaid loans, federal Auditor General Sheila Fraser said Wednesday.

There is about$4 million in outstanding loans to 550 students and former students,Fraser told CBC News in Iqaluit after releasing a report, Financial Assistance for Nunavut Students Program.

Some of the loans are not due for repayment yet because the students are still attending school, but many others are in arrears, her report says.

However, some of the fault for the unpaid debt lies with the government, according to the report, since in some cases people have not even been notified they should be making payments.

The government needs to take a look at who owes the money and whether they have the ability to pay, Fraser said.

The EducationDepartment is already putting measures in place to improve the program, Deputy Minister Kathy Okpiksaid later.

"We've secured extra resources to do a comprehensive review of all our student loan files," she said. "We're also in the process right now of reorganizing the filing system within our Arviat office to make sure that all documentation is contained in the student's file."

In 2005-06, Nunavut students received about $6 million, of which$450,000 wasloans, while the rest wasnon-repayable grants.

Fraser said reports on the Nunavut Business Credit Corp. will be released in the fall and on the Nunavut Housing Corporation in the spring of 2008.

Nunavut MLAs also asked for an audit on the Health Department, which she hopes to have completed by the spring of 2009.