BARROW'S COLLEGE-AID VOTE UNFAIR TO DRUG OFFENDERS

Rep. John Barrow, D-Athens, missed a chance to save taxpayer dollars
and help thousands of students regain their financial aid last week
during the House discussion over H.R. 609, the bill to reauthorize
the Higher Education Act. The U.S. House Committee on Education and
the Workforce voted against an amendment to the College Access and
Opportunity Act that would lift the financial aid ban for students
with past drug convictions. Instead, Barrow and the committee
supported a partial repeal that would still cause thousands of
students to be ineligible for aid every year.

The HEA drug provision is a little-known federal law that denies
financial aid to students with past drug convictions. It is
ineffective and counterproductive to deny ex-offenders the
opportunity of an education that would only help them turn their
lives around. The Correctional Education Association has found that
postsecondary education greatly reduces recidivism rates from a 60
percent rate nationally, to a 10 percent rate for ex-offenders with
at least two years of higher education.

Barrow missed an important opportunity to help decrease recidivism
and to remove a difficult barrier for ex-offenders. Education should
be accessible for those who are qualified and actively seek an
opportunity to learn. Congress should not be sending the message you
are unworthy of an education because of a poor choice made in the past.

Kyle Wibby

Coalition for HEA Reform

Washington, D.C.