The main way you can ensure that universities do receive the money directly is through the implementation of legislation, something very similar to the Canada Health Act, only in regard to post-secondary education. I think it's also important to realize that if the federal government were to come to the table and offer to restore the funding in full, at least $2.2 billion per year is what the Canadian Association of University Teachers, the federation, and other groups have all recognized is in fact the number. If they were to come to the provinces with that $2.2 billion--when you come to the table with that much money, the provinces will make concessions and will agree to ensure that money does go to universities. It's a sizeable sum of money and I think they will compromise. For example, the council of the federation has agreed that it would come to that compromise.
As for assisting students directly, the most efficient way to assist students directly is to ensure that tuition fees are reduced, as tuition fees continue to be the number one barrier to access education. As well, a system of needs-based grants could be implemented directly through existing infrastructure, particularly with the Canada student loans program, which is very good at identifying financial need. A system of needs-based grants could be directly implemented using the money that's previously been spent on the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation. This would be more effective and would be a revenue-neutral solution to student aid.