It will also be responsible for half of all the golden handshake funds that staff made redundant will be entitled to-a denationalization condition that has frightened away most former school owners. CBE officials say their board functions as a charitable trust that depends on public donations for its survival and as such it could not afford to fork out huge sums of money. They Have already signaled their unwillingness to keep the present staff, owing To the "unfair" financial conditions drawn up by the education department. The Catholic Board of Education is currently negotiating the transfer of Teachers and non-faculty members of St Joseph and St Patrick's to other Public institutions by the first week of July. It is hoping also to convince The government to leave the "furniture, lab equipment and other materials" Intact at the time it is handed back the colleges. One of the key conditions that the CBE has consented to concerns tuition fees and student acceptance. None of the 4,000 students would lose their seats after denationalization and their tuition fee would remain the same, as stipulated by the government. Media reports indicate that the government could indeed make some concessions to the CBE, most notable among them is the transfer of teachers to government Colleges and ridding the board of its financial obligations. On June 27, the English-language daily Dawn reported that the education department would Probably "absorb" the regular staff of the two colleges into public colleges but not on July 1, the date recommended by the CBE, as it was practically impossible to complete the transfer procedures as early as that. The new academic session will begin on Aug 1, which gives education officials just a month to settle the matter.