Drug convicts denied aid

By Ryan May
Daily Forty-Niner
 
Any student convicted of a drug charge will be denied federal grants, loans and work assistance, due to a provision recently added to the Higher Education Act of 1998.

With ineligibility based on the number of convictions, a student is disqualified for a minimum of one to two years, depending on whether the drug charge includes possession or sale of a controlled substance. Under section 484 of the HEA, a student can regain eligibility by undergoing rehabilitation until the third offense for possession, or the second offense for sale is committed, after which aid is denied indefinitely.

"We thought the drug war was meant to protect us, but this is proof that it's actually meant to punish us," said Steven Silverman, campus coordinator of the Drug Reform Coordination Network in Washington, D.C.

Silverman's organization supports the upcoming House Resolution 1053. If passed by Congress, the resolution will repeal the drug provision.

The resolution was created by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and has garnered the support of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the American Civil Liberties Union and 25 student governments from colleges around the United States.

"We see it as ... sort of a scalpel, cutting off a blemish on the higher education act," Silverman said.

Gloria Kapp, director of admissions and financial aid at Cal State Long Beach, has been a financial aid director for almost 20 years and harbors serious doubts as to the usefulness of the drug provision.

"I am convinced that we just don't have a large number of students who are serious drug offenders receiving financial aid," Kapp said. "I don't think they can succeed in college courses ... if they are a serious drug abuser."

Jacob Boyd, a junior majoring in film and electronic arts said he believes everyone is entitled to an education regardless of his or her past.

"Everyone deserves a second chance, or in this case a fourth or fifth chance," Boyd said.  "If someone wants to go to school, and they are eligible for financial aid, there is no reason to deny them."

Out of the 31,000 students currently attending CSULB, about half will receive some sort of financial aid, Kapp said. By requiring this sort of screening for only those who apply for aid, Kapp said she believes it imposes a different set of standards on those students, making the application process more complicated.

"It seems to be something that has made an already bureaucratic process, and sometimes difficult process for students, more so," Kapp said. "It adds so much to the bureaucracy and the kinds of requirements related to eligibility for financial aid that it may, in fact, discourage some students who've never had a drug offence from applying."