FINANCIAL AID CRITERIA MAY CHANGE AGAIN

Eligibility for federal student assistance is suspended for students
convicted of a drug crime while receiving aid.

A bill recently passed by a Senate committee may bring relief to
financially dependent students who can no longer receive federal aid
due to drug convictions.

The amendment to the Higher Education Act, which suspended
eligibility for federal student assistance of any student who is
convicted of a drug crime, was authored in 1998 by Rep. Mark Souder,
R-Ind., but was changed last year to only affect students who
committed offenses while receiving aid.

The provision was not the main focus of the Higher Education Access
Act of 2007, but could affect many students. According to a study
released by Students for Sensible Drug Policy, there have been more
than 200,000 students in the nation and 15,026 students in Texas who
have been denied federal aid because of drug convictions since the
law was enacted in 1999.

However, UT has had fewer than five such instances, said Henry
Urick, assistant director of UT's Student Financial Services. Austin
Community College reported zero.

The report was drawn directly from the Department of Education's
numbers on students who were denied aid due to their answer or
non-answer to the "drug" question.

"The reason for the discrepancy may be that once the student is
denied, they simply may decide not go to school," said Micah Daigle,
director for Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

"I believe that students who are dealing or abusing drugs probably
aren't making the most of their educations," Souder, who was not
available for comment Monday, states on his Web site. "It's one
thing if they are going to do it with their own money or if
their parents are going to pay, but it's something else to ask the
American taxpayer to fund this kind of behavior."

Adam Wolf, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union,
has been arguing his case against the policy for over a year. He is
currently in the process of appealing the class-action complaint
that was filed by three students and dismissed by federal courts in October.

Wolf said that he is arguing two claims: double jeopardy, citing
that students shouldn't be punished a second time for their drug
offenses, and equal protection.

"You can be convicted of a rape, a murder, or for defrauding the
federal government for student loans," he said. "But if you are
caught with a small amount of marijuana, then you can't receive
money for school."