CONGRESS AMENDS LAW THAT LIMITS AID TO DRUG OFFENDERS

Reach Shortened on Law Designed to Smoke Out Drug Offenders

This is your financial aid award.

This is your financial aid award on drugs.

Any questions?

Last week, Congress passed changes to the Higher Education Act
regarding financial aid for drug offenders. For the last seven years,
the law has restricted them from receiving federal financial aid.
After last week, only those convicted while attending college will lose it.

Most traditional college students - those attending immediately after
high school - will be unaffected by the changes to the policy because
any drug offense committed in their past would have occurred while
they were minors. Minors's cannot be stripped of their aid unless
they were tried as adults, according to Tom Angell, campaigns
director for Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

But the change will benefit those returning to college later in
adulthood because they can obtain federal aid even with a drug
offense on their record.

Under the new laws, if a student is convicted of possessing illegal
drugs, he loses federal aid for one year after the first offense, for
two years after the second and indefinitely after the third. For
selling illegal drugs, a student can lose federal aid for two years
after the first offense. After the second offense, though, he can
lose it indefinitely.

According to Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a nonprofit group
based in Washington D.C., more than 175,000 students have been
affected by the law.

Margaret Rodriguez, senior associate director of the University's
financial aid office, said she didn't know of any University students
the law has affected. It might make a bigger difference at other
universities, she said.

The law restricting federal student aid to drug offenders has been on
the books since 1998. That year, Congress reworked the
thee-decade-old Higher Education Act, and Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.)
added the controversial regulation.

"Mark Souder is the leading drug warrior in Congress and just wants
to punish people who use drugs," Angell said. "He has no interest in
making college campuses safer."

Souder's office declined to comment because The Michigan Daily is a
college newspaper.

James Geoffrey, a spokesman for Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), said the
U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce - the committee
responsible for changes to the Higher Education Act - simply
attempted to correct a law they considered incorrectly implemented.
McKeon is expected to become chair of the committee soon, and he
played a large part in revising the law to make some drug offenders
eligible for federal aid.

"When the original (1998) plan went through, it was intended that you
would lose student aid for a period of probation," Geoffrey said. "It
was not intended that students would be barred from receiving
financial aid forever."

But the House Committee on Education and the Workforce still believes
there should be a penalty for drug offenders because they need to pay
their debt to society, Geoffrey said.

"You get kids that are working hard, doing what they're supposed to
be doing, who are denied money for aid," Geoffrey said. "There's only
so much to go around, so why give it to someone who's in violation of the law?"

Many groups consider the law unfair and ineffective. Congress has
faced intense pressure since 1998 from the American Civil Liberties
Union and SSDP, as well as from concerned students.

"By blocking education to drug offenders, it prevents them from
becoming responsible, tax-paying individuals," Angell said.

But according to a report released by the United States Government
Accountability Office, the 1998 Higher Education Act neither kept
drug offenders out of college nor prevented drug use.

"We were unable to find research that conclusively indicates whether
these provisions of the Higher Education Act led individuals to forgo
postsecondary education or deterred individuals from engaging in drug
use and drug-related criminal activities," the report said.