Pubdate: Tue, 04 Apr 2006 Source: The Miami Student (OH Edu) Contact: http://www.miamistudent.net/ Address: 17 MacMillan Hall, Oxford, OH 45056 Fax: 513-529-1893 Copyright: 2006 The Miami Student and College Publisher Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hea.htm (Higher Education Act) STUDENTS' AID ELIGIBILITY SHOULD FACE RESTRICTIONS ISSUE The controversial lawsuit brought against Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings in March has initiated critical dialogue on the merits and drawbacks of the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1998. Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and three students convicted of drug offenses filed the lawsuit that took issue with the student eligibility clause of the HEA. Currently, under the HEA "a student who has been convicted of any offense under any federal or state law involving the possession or sale of a controlled substance shall not be eligible to receive any grant, loan, or work assistance" from the time of the conviction until a year later for a first offense and two years for a second offense. Since the enforcement of the HEA revisions of 1998, nearly 200,000 potential college students have been found ineligible for federal financial aid. Other than the lawsuit's claim that the statute is in violation of the double jeopardy clause of the U.S. Constitution, the charge brings several questions to bear: Namely, why is a drug-related transgression the only state or federal offense implicated in the HEA? Drugs may impact the performance and maintenance of students in academics, but why allow persons convicted of sexual assault, battery, theft or other crimes to apply successfully for federal money for a college education? Those convictions are as worrisome or even more so to the climate of an educational institution. If the drug offense statute holds through the lawsuit, the HEA should be revised so offenders of other state and federal laws are denied federal financial aid as well. The legitimacy of the statute itself is appropriate given that a drug offense is a crime. The eligibility of a student applying for federal financial aid should be limited by his or her past history of indiscretion just as applying for jobs or schools is limited by those same factors. However, it seems blatantly uneven that only one type of crime is taken into consideration under the HEA, rather than a plethora of offenses that threaten the well-being and safety of a college community. Statutes such as the one under the HEA should serve not as a discriminatory clause or as double punishment, but rather as an even-handed attempt to glean applicants with solid histories that will use federal financial aid to their benefit. Drug offenders or other offenders are not necessarily drug addicts nor are they incapable of benefiting from federal financial aid; however, the federal government is correct to establish student eligibility for federal financial aid and deny those who have broken the law. Nevertheless, such standards should be applied across the board to include other non-drug related offenses. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman