(Quebec) The government’s loans and bursaries program lacks transparency and fairness, concludes the Québec Ombudsman in a report published Thursday.
Updated yesterday at 5:25 p.m.
What’s more, the current rules unduly penalize students with a major functional impairment (MFD).
“There are inequities in the treatment and therefore necessarily in the decisions made by Aide financière aux études (AFE),” summarized the Public Protector, Marie Rinfret, in an interview with The Canadian Press.
However, these decisions can compromise access to higher education or even the future plans of young adults.
In each of the sections of her 55-page investigation, she notes a “lack of transparency in the way things are done”, “disparities in treatment” and a “lack of listening” to the detriment of the student who wants his voice.
There are just over 1,200 requests for review filed on average each year at the Appeals Office and approximately 860 are refused.
The applicant or the plaintiff does not know the reasons for which his request is refused by the AFE.
” Investigation […] revealed that the reasons on which the decisions of the AFE are based are not accessible to the persons concerned”, writes Mme Rinfret.
What’s more, the entire framework that allows rules to be interpreted in order to arrive at decisions is not made public.
“The Québec Ombudsman finds that the administrative rules adopted by AFE to apply its law and the resulting regulations, whether policies, directives or guidelines, among others, are not not broadcast by the AFE, can we read in the survey. Students cannot consult them. »
AFE explains that it refuses to release them so as not to further confuse students in the application process.
“The relevant documentation must be accessible,” retorted in an interview with M.me Rinfret.
“There is something to be done to guide the students, without flooding them with all kinds of information. »
The Québec Ombudsman also noted “gaps” in the notes recorded by the officers who process applications for financial assistance.
“According to the information obtained during the interviews, the insufficiency, or even absence, of analysis notes constitutes a major deficiency. »
Major functional impairment
Mme Rinfret notices a number of problems in recognizing students with major functional impairments.
However, this recognition is essential to enable them to have access to financial aid even if they are studying part-time, or to receive all the aid in the form of a scholarship.
“The criteria are not applied in a uniform manner,” noted the Public Protector.
From 2017 to 2020, the AFE has always recognized fewer and fewer requests for recognition of major functional impairment, from 8,600 to 7,000.
Since there are not enough notes recorded in the files, the Québec Ombudsman cannot determine why this number is down.
Mme Rinfret particularly deplores the exclusion of certain diagnoses, such as mental health problems.
Potential misrepresentation
Moreover, it is also very critical of the treatment of potential misleading statements, that is to say those students whom AFE suspects of having provided false information in order to obtain financial aid.
Mme Rinfret raises documented cases where students have made errors in good faith, without being able to be informed of the analysis criteria and the consequences.
“There is therefore no kind of warning that tells students that they can be excluded from the loan and bursary system for two years,” she said in an interview.
Appeals Office
Finally, M.me Rinfret notes that the Appeals Office lacks independence, since it is an internal body of Aide financière aux études which is responsible for studying requests for review.
This leads to “inequities between students,” she laments.
It therefore recommends making this office a separate ministerial entity from the AFE in order to ensure its “independence, impartiality and credibility”.
It also suggests providing for an appeal to the Administrative Tribunal for people who are dissatisfied with a decision of the Appeals Office.
This would make AFE accountable for its decisions “to an external and independent authority,” she writes.
Higher Education Minister Danielle McCann declined to comment.
His ministry, however, said it would present “an action plan” next month to respond to the report.
The Québec Ombudsman analyzed complaint files over three years, from 2017 to 2020.
More than 1.1 billion dollars per year are allocated by AFE in loans and bursaries.
According to data provided by the Ministries of Education and Higher Education, AFE received 171,692 applications for the year 2019-2020. For this same year, 8180 were refused.
In 2019-2020, there were 1006 requests for review.