The president of the University of Toronto says that scholarships given to bright but wealthy students should be spent instead on deserving students who are truly in financial need.

Robert Birgeneau is calling on other university presidents to support a plan to ensure that qualified but needy students get most of the available financial aid.

"It's great that people from poor families are able to come to university, but it's not fair in my opinion that they graduate with large debts," Birgeneau said. "That's the issue we're trying to address."

The proposal received immediate support from the Ontario office of the Canadian Federation of Students.

"This is something we've been suggesting forever," said Ontario chair Joel Duff.

Critics say the plan is not feasible, but Birgeneau points to the experience in the United States where last spring 28 private universities agreed to cooperate in ensuring that financial aid was distributed to lower-income students. As a result of the change, some needy students are now receiving thousands of dollars more in assistance.

York University's vice-president of enrolment and student services Deborah Hobson says the American answer cannot solve the Canadian problem.

"Birgeneau is a newcomer in town and doesn't understand the difference between an American private university and a large, Canadian public university," she said.

She points out that Canadian universities do not have the large endowment funds that U.S. schools do, and they admit a wider spectrum of students.

Carleton University president Richard Van Loon says universities want to reward academic excellence and "to take that ability out of our hands would not likely be supported."