TAKING THE HIGH OUT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

For most students trying to pay for school is a fairly trying ordeal.
Attempting to get financial aid from the government is equally
tedious, the endless forms and ridiculously long waiting periods.

Now imagine that you are turned down because of a mistake you made a
year ago. Well that is what happened to 200,000 students this year,
31,830 of which are from California. They were turned down for
financial aid because of drug convictions on their records.

There is a little known section of the Higher Education Act (HEA) that
was passed by former President Bill Clinton in 1998. This brief insert
allows the financial aid division of the government the right to turn
down aid to students that have had a drug conviction on their records.

Whether it be possession of marijuana that is over the legal amount of
one ounce per person or a brick of cocaine in your trunk (but if you
have that much you may have more problems than just trying to pay for
school) this law will negatively affect you.

How long you are restricted from financial aid is set up according to
how many convictions you have on your record. So if you had one
conviction you are barred from aid for one year, if you have a second
offense it is two years and if you have a third you are banned for
life. There is also another set up if you were caught distributing the
narcotics, first offense is two years and with a second conviction you
are forbidden for life.

While Clinton signed the bill that allowed for financial aid and the
subsequent banning of drug convicted-aid seekers, it was Nancy
Reagan's "War on Drugs" that was the precursor to this policy. Knowing
that and knowing about the shady practices of both the Clinton and
Reagan administrations, one cannot help but sense an ulterior motive
to this policy.

It is possible this was put in place to keep people from the poorer
parts of the country from getting an education and moving up in the
world in an effort to make things better for the lower economic classes.

Let's be honest here, this country heavily favors the rich and pisses
on the poor. We also need to recognize that people from poorer parts
of the country cannot pay for their own schooling and are more likely
to resort to drugs and thereby get caught with them.

But conspiracy theories aside, this is still a horrible circumstance
for anyone in that situation. Lets us assume that there are a large
number of people that have had problems with the drug laws and are
trying to go to school and raise their station in life. Being told
that you are not eligible for free money like nearly everyone else in
this country because of a couple of mistakes when you were 18 cannot
be a very encouraging feeling.

While I do not encourage anyone to do drugs nor do I support the use
of drugs, I am a firm believer in the logic that anyone in this
country should be allowed to do what they want as long as it does not
interfere with the rights of others.

So if you want to sit in your parent's garage and get high, then by
all means do. If you feel the need to run through the park naked at
night, you can do that too. As long as you don't stick my arm with
heroin or make me watch you take a lap in your birthday suit, I don't
care what you do, it's your business.

As of now the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Students for
Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) are working to get this provision removed
from the HEA and I wish them luck in their fight for the basic right
that everyone has to an education despite their mistakes.