COLLEGE AID AND DRUGS

Discriminatory Policy Should Be Revoked

The coming reauthorization of the Higher Education Act presents an
opportunity to repeal a punitive provision that ties colleges
assistance to past drug use.

The form for federal student aid ask applicants whether they have ever
been convicted of selling or possessing drugs. If yes, additional
information is sought, but a single drug offence could make the
applicant ineligible for government grants or federally backed loans
for one year. Two conviction disqualifies the applicant for two years.

College officials, more than 100 student governments and federal law
makers have called for the provision to be revoked. In some cases,
colleges are reimbursing students for aid they have been denied.

Supporters of the law argue that there is no automatic entitlement to
the aid. However, it attaches a condition unrelated to financial standing.

Participation in a drug-rehabilitation program can restore
eligibility, but that depends on the ability of the individual or
family to afford such programs, which can be costly.

It may be that only a small percentage of students lose their
eligibility, but it denies primarily low and middle-income students
the college aid that can make the difference in going to school.

The federal aid is meant to help students and families. instead, it
has become another way to penalize people for pass behavior, which in
many cases is no longer considered criminal. State laws, for example,
have decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Supporters of the law say it should deter drug use. It is up to them,
than, to prove that potential drug users have indeed stopped to think
about the consequences on their college plans if they are caught with
drugs.

The provision will keep some people out of collage, but where is the
evidence that it keeps them off drugs?

The policy is inconsistent with the goal of encouraging young people
to go on to college to become better-educated, productive members of
society. The provision should be scrapped.