ACLU SAYS STUDENT-LOAN BAN UNCONSTITUTIONAL

Those With Drug Convictions Not Eligible For Aid

DAYTON -- The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday challenged
the constitutionality of a six-year-old federal law that blocks
students convicted of a drug offense from obtaining federal student
loans.

"Closing the campus gates denies these students a crucial chance to
get themselves back on track by staying in school," said ACLU attorney
Adam Wolf, who called the law "an unfair and irrational barrier to
education (that) singles out working-class Americans." The lawsuit was
filed in federal court in South Dakota.

One Dayton-area college financial aid administrator wonders why no one
challenged the law sooner. Emphasizing she was speaking for herself
and not on behalf of the college, Kathy L. Wiesenauer, director of
Sinclair Community College's financial aid office, said the Higher
Education Act "unfairly singles out a class of individuals who have
already paid their debt to society through fines, imprisonment or
service to the community."

Wiesenauer said the law allows financial aid to rapists, murderers or
sexual predators but not to drug offenders. And it discriminates
against the poor, she said.

"Wealthy folks who are not in need of financial assistance to attend
college are in no way penalized for their past indiscretions,"
Wiesenauer said. "They can simply pay their tuition and be about their
business."

"Only a fraction of a percent" of the 17,000-plus aid applications
Sinclair receives each year are flagged as having past drug offenses,
she said. Nationwide, about 14 million Americans apply for financial
aid annually, and the ACLU estimates the law has blocked aid to
hundreds of thousands of would-be students.