BERKELEY CREATES NEW SCHOLARSHIP FOR STUDENTS WITH DRUG CONVICTIONS

The Associated Students of the University of California Berkeley
(ASCU) passed legislation in January which will allow students who
have been denied federal financial aid due to drug convictions to
apply for a scholarship.

The aid elimination penalty is part of the amendments to the Higher
Education Act (HEA) in 1998. Nearly 200,000 students have lost their
aid due to drug convictions since the amendments to the act.

David Wasserman, Berkeley senior and student senator, passed this
idea last semester and contacted Students for Sensible Drug Policy
(SSDP). The SSDP is an international student network trying to
prevent the government from stripping students of their rights in the
effort to get an upper hand in the Drug War.

"This is the first student government in the country to do something
like this," Wasserman said.

So far, only one student will be selected per year to receive the
$400 scholarship. The money will mostly cover books and give the
student more time to look at other options to pay for schooling. The
money can only be used for UC Berkeley housing, tuition,
course-related materials and books.

The money comes from the finances granted to the ASCU during the
school year. ASCU uses this money to hold student-related events.

Prior to 2006, any drug conviction in a student's history prevented
the student from receiving any aid. Currently, the penalty only
applies to students who are convicted of a drug-related felony while
receiving financial aid.

Question 31 of the Federal Application For Student Aid (FAFSA) is
what prompted Wasserman, a political science major to challenge the
rule. The question asks if the aid applicant has been convicted of a
drug felony.

"That's the only question that could disqualify you from getting
aid," Wasserman said.

Depending on the answer, the person is placed in one of three
categories to receive aid.

The first category consists of a person with no convictions,
convictions made long enough in the past that eligibility has been
reinstated or the conviction was made when person was a minor.

The second category is the person has aid for only part of the school
year. The last category is the person is ineligible for aid for the
entire school year or longer.

The first offense for sale of an uncontrolled substance is two years
of ineligibility, while the second offense for sale is an indefinite
number of years of ineligibility.

The first offense for possession of a controlled substance is one
year of ineligibility. The second offense for possession is two
years. The third offense is an indefinite number of years from receiving aid.

"While the aid elimination penalty is intended to reduce substance
abuse, it actually causes more drug problems by blocking access to
education," Kris Krane, executive director of SSDP, said. "While
we're pressuring Congress to do the right thing by overturning the
penalty, students at UC Berkeley and other colleges are taking action
to help their peers stay in school where they belong."

UC Berkeley isn't the only school to adopt its own policy of funds to
aid-stripped students. Yale University, Hampshire College, Swarthmore
College and Western Washington University also have created
scholarships for this predicament.

More than 125 other student governments have passed resolutions for
Congress to overturn the aid elimination penalty.

According to the U.S. Department of Education report, Indiana has the
highest percentage of students denied aid due to drug felonies. One
in every 200 students is denied, which is .50 percent, which doubles
the national standard of .25 percent. Other states that rank above
the national average in denying aid are: Oregon, California,
Washington, Rhode Island, North Carolina, Connecticut, Arkansas,
Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Iowa and Alaska.

It also stated that 31,830 students from California have lost aid due
to this penalty. Texas is the second highest state to have aid
stripped from 15, 025 students. Aid has also been lost to 9,180
students from Florida, 8,962 students from New York and 8,903
students from Indiana.

Michael O'Rear, director of financial aid at SFA, said it was highly
improbable but possible for such a scholarship to be implemented at
SFA. He said students would have to find an individual, individuals,
organizations or students who would be sympathetic and willing to set
up such a scholarship. Students would have to sponsor fundraisers to
raise $5,500 to $6,000 in order to start the process; then, a
committee would have to be created to select recipients.

"I don't want to discourage any scholarship activity, but this would
be kind of hard," O'Rear said.

Even though O'Rear said the idea of a scholarship for drug-convicted
students would be met with some criticism, he said there will still
be some students who are willing to sacrifice their time and money
for such a cause.

There are other sources of grants and scholarships from the state but
each state has a different policy on handling drug-convicted
students. Without federal assistance for higher education, it's
harder to almost near improbable for a student to attend school.

"The government shouldn't find new ways to prevent students from
getting a higher education," Wasserman said.