Our
view
Unfair
provision denies aid
The Drug-Free Student Aid provision to the
Higher Education Act, passed by Congress
in 1998, states that students who have drug
convictions cannot receive financial aid
for a specified amount of time following
the conviction.
According to a report released by the Department
of Education, the provision will ensure
that more than 30,000 college students will
not receive student aid for the 2002-2003
school year.
This provision has been thoroughly discussed
and criticized over the past four years,
with no changes to speak of. It is time
that something changes. The Drug-Free Student
Aid provision must be repealed, or at least
amended.
The stench of discrimination and inequity
seeps from the foundation of this act.
The provision unfairly discriminates against
less financially stable families and students.
Logically, if a student who has ample financial
means is convicted of a drug related offense,
he or she does not need student aid anyway
so there is no need to worry about not being
able to afford college. However, if a student
who is not as financially stable is convicted
of a drug related offense, then he or she
will struggle to achieve the needed funds
to afford college, and ultimately may not
be able to afford it at all.
A student with a past drug conviction who
is not allowed the means necessary to attend
college, and thus is forced into a life
of manual labor or minimum wage jobs, will
be far more likely to turn to drugs once
again then a student who was given the opportunity
to attend college.
What is this Drug-Free Student Aid provision
trying to accomplish?
In a U-Wire article written by Melissa Kronfeld
from the Washington, D.C. Bureau, Rep. Mark
Souder, R-Ind., states that, “the measure
was originally enacted to cut federal funding
to those students who received drug convictions
while already receiving aid.”
If the provision were originally enacted
for this stated reason, then why is it actually
working to deny financial aid to students
who have past convictions?
The provision makes it more difficult for
students with past convictions to move on
with their lives and better themselves,
which is obviously what they are attempting
to do by trying to attend college in the
first place.
The Drug-Free Student Aid provision of the
Higher Education Act is a down right discriminatory
and unfair measure that must be reformed
to ensure equal opportunities to all students
regardless of how colorful their past may
be.
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