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Striking back on student loans The Quebec Ministry of Education has found an inventive new way to earn an extra $30 million, with CEGEP and university students footing the bill. Approximately 50,000 students, who took out student loans prior to May 1998, are being hit with a bill for interest on their loans for a period, roughly six months, that was supposed to be interest-free. The government abolished the interest-free period last May and applied it retroactively to all student loans. Worse still, students were charged interest without ever being informed of the changes to their loan contract. "What the government's done is absolutely reprehensible," says Harry Dikranian, a first-year lawyer who claims that the change has cost him an additional $310. And, like any good lawyer, he has decided to sue--not just to recover his $310, but on behalf of all the 50,000 other students as well. All 50,000 students, by default, will be represented in this motion unless they opt out. If Dikranian is successful, each student will be reimbursed for all additional interest charges. Dikranian's first hearing in Quebec Superior Court will be held on November 16. -Dominique Ritter
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