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.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman