GROUP AWAITS RESPONSE TO FINANCIAL AID LAWSUIT

While it still has until next month, the U.S. Dept. of Education has
yet to respond to a lawsuit challenging its policy of withholding
financial aid from students with prior drug convictions.

Filed on March 22 by the nonprofit organization Students for Sensible
Drug Policy, the lawsuit aims to eliminate a provision in the Higher
Education Act that denies federal loans and aid to students with
prior drug convictions, said Tom Angell, campaigns director for SSDP.
The Dept. of Education has 60 days from the time of filing to respond
before the case goes to trial.

Rep. Mark Souder, R-IN, wrote the provision - coined the acts Aid
Elimination Penalty by SSDP - into the Higher Education Act in 1998
during a revision process, Angell said.

After the provisions application in 2001, the Free Application for
Federal Student Aid began asking the question, Have you ever been
convicted of possessing or selling illegal drugs? Angell said
students who check the Yes box or leave it blank are sent a follow-up
questionnaire asking for details about the conviction.

According to a SSPD report published on April 17, nearly 200,000
students eligible to receive financial aid have been denied since the
introduction of the question on the FAFSA application. Over 31,000 of
these students come from California.

The HEA Aid Elimination Penalty is the drug policy that most affects
our generation, Angell said.

Angell said drug convictions are the only convictions considered on
the FAFSA.

Murderers and rapists are still eligible to receive aid, Angell said.

Last year, seven students at UCSB either checked Yes to the drug
conviction question or denied to answer the question, Bill Shelor,
assistant director of the UCSB Financial Aid Office, said. Because
roughly 12,000 students on campus receive some form of financial aid,
the drug conviction question hasnt been a major issue on this campus,
Shelor said.

Angell said the SSDP has been lobbying Congress for the past eight
years for a change in the act, and currently has a bill in Congress
with 70 supporters. According to the SSPD April report, Congress
revised the HEA Aid Elimination Penalty in February 2006 due to
mounting criticism.

The report states that, the change to the law takes away its
reachback effect, meaning that only convictions that occur while
someone is in college and receiving financial aid will cause that
person to lose their aid.

However, many students are still affected by the law, Angell said.
The lawsuit filed by the SSDP questions the constitutionality of the
HEA Aid Elimination Penalty.

We basically say the law is unconstitutional because it punishes
students twice for the same crime, Angell said. Taking away access to
education is not only illogical, but it is illegal.

Under the current provision, federal aid is suspended for a year on a
students first conviction of possession of a controlled substance. A
second conviction of possession leads to a second year of suspension.
A third conviction of possession causes financial aid to be suspended
indefinitely, Angell said.

Angell said the American Civil Liberties Union Drug Law Reform
Project took on the lawsuit pro bono and will represent SSDP against
the Dept. of Education.

Across the country, 60 high school and college campuses have formed
chapters of the SSDP in support of better drug legislation, Angell said.

Randy Hencken, a fourth-year business management major and president
of the SSDP chapter at San Diego State University, said he helped
found the universitys chapter a year ago.

I was fed up with the failure of the drug war and witnessing it on
several different accounts, Hencken said.

Although the chapter has about a dozen active members and at least
150 other students interested, Hencken said some students are
hesitant to join for fear of retribution from the government.

In addition to hosting a debate this semester about drug laws, the
SDSU chapter will next semester challenge the universitys policy on
marijuana and alcohol use on campus. Under current SDSU policy,
students discovered with alcohol in dorms are written up, while
students found with a controlled substance can be arrested and kicked
out of school.

The chapter will take the issue to SDSUs student government in the
fall, Hencken said.

As a recreational substance, [marijuana] really isnt any worse than
alcohol, he said.

A representative from the Dept. of Education could not be reached for
comment.