STUDENT AID FOR ALL

Congress passed a law in 1998 prohibiting federal student financial aid
from going to students that convicted of a drug crime. Congress intended to
deter students already in college from using drugs with the bill. If a
student was convicted of a drug crime, their financial aid was revoked,
putting the student's academic future in jeopardy.

Now, five years later, representatives are rethinking the logic and the
enforcement of the law. The law, which was supposed to be a deterrent of
drug use, has come to deny thousands of students who have minor drug
convictions on their record the chance to go to school, while allowing
convicted murderers, armed robbers and rapists to receive financial aid to
go to college once they serve their time and are released from prison.

This law is hypocritical and counterproductive to people who made mistakes
in the past and denies them their right to rectify those mistakes and start
a new life.

The author of the bill, Representative Mark Souder, a Republican from
Indiana, says he never intended the law to be enforced in such as way. He
blames the Clinton and Bush administrations for enforcing the law so
harshly. The Department of Education claims they are legally enforcing a
"vague and sloppy" law.

The problem comes in the wording of the law itself. The law reads that a
"student who has been convicted" of a drug offense is not eligible for
federal student financial aid. It also does not distinguish between recent
and past drug convictions and provides little for students to win back
their financial aid. Students can go into drug treatment to try to win back
their aid. But many drug treatment programs cost just as much as college
tuition and if students can't afford college, how can they afford drug
treatment?

Also many students are not aware of the law, even when they fill out the
Free application for Federal Student Aid. It just asks if the student has
ever been convicted of a drug-related offense.

Congress needs to rethink and rewrite the law to give students who have
proven themselves a second chance.

Many students that do have a drug conviction were charged as minors and it
goes on their permanent record. If the student has no other convictions or
infractions, they should be eligible for financial aid. If a college
student is convicted of a drug crime, then they should be allowed to work
for their aid, through community service and a drug treatment course,
preferably through their college's health service.

President Bush, in his State of the Union address in January, said when the
"gates of prison are open, the path should lead to a better life."

Change the law to allow aid for every eligible person.