Pubdate: Mon, 01 May 2006
Source: Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, The  (IA)
Copyright: 2006 The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
Contact:  http://www.wcfcourier.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3510
Author: Katie Heinz, Courier/Medill News Service
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hea.htm (Higher Education Act)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?219 (Students for Sensible Drug Policy)

STUDY: DRUG USE CAN HURT COLLEGE FINANCIAL AID

WASHINGTON --- More than 2,300 Iowa students --- and nearly 200,000 
students nationwide --- have been denied financial aid since the 
2000-2001 school year because of drug convictions, a new study shows.

The study was released by a group called Students for Sensible Drug 
Policy, which is working to repeal a federal law that makes college 
students ineligible for financial aid if they have been convicted of 
selling or possessing illegal drugs.

The law, called the Aid Elimination Penalty, is part of the recently 
passed Higher Education Act. Under the law, students who acknowledge 
selling or possessing drugs on a federal loan application are 
ineligible for aid.

Once a much broader law, the Aid Elimination Penalty was scaled back 
in February to apply only to convictions that occur while a student 
is receiving financial aid.

But Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a Washington, D.C.-based 
group, wants to see the law eliminated.

The group and the ACLU filed a federal class-action lawsuit against 
the U.S. Department. of Education last month challenging the 
constitutionality of the rule. Three students who lost financial aid 
due to misdemeanor drug convictions will represent those affected by the law.

Tom Angell, a top official with Students for Sensible Drug Policy, 
said numerous federal studies show that people enrolled in college 
have much lower rates of drug use than those with a high school diploma.

"This law causes more drug abuse by blocking access to education," Angell said.

The number of Iowa students declared ineligible for selling or 
possessing illegal drugs is above the national average, according to 
U.S. Education Department statistics. Approximately one out of every 
387 students in Iowa was denied aid due to drug convictions.

Roland Carrillo, University of Northern Iowa's director of admissions 
and financial aid, said the penalty has affected a few of the 
school's students. But he said the update to the law is positive news 
for financial aid applicants.

"Going to school is a way to better your life," Carrillo said. "If 
you've had a difficult time in the past and it follows you and you 
can't improve it --- I think that's sad."

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, thinks the Aid Elimination Penalty is 
unbalanced because students who commit other crimes can still get aid.

"That inequity doesn't meet the common sense test," Grassley said.

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, is ranking member of the Senate subcommittee 
that funds educational programs. Maureen Knightly, spokeswoman for 
Harkin, said the senator has been listening to concerned groups and 
will attempt to address concerns that the Aid Elimination Penalty 
only applies to past drug convictions and not other crimes.

The U.S. Education Department statistics don't reveal how many 
students were deterred from applying for financial aid by the drug 
question or how many applicants lied.

"I think one of the questions to ask is are the actual numbers of 
students convicted of drug possession higher in fact, or are Iowa 
students more likely to fill out that blank honestly? It's hard to 
tell," said Edith Waldstein, vice president for enrollment management 
at Wartburg College.

A September 2005 study from the non-partisan Government 
Accountability Office was unable to find any evidence that the 
provision "actually helped to deter drug use."

Keith Greiner, research director for the Iowa College Aid Commission, 
said he doubts the number of students who are now ineligible due to 
the penalty would affect financial aid within the state.

"We get far more applications than we are able to give aid for," 
Greiner said. "So it's not likely to change the numbers."

But Angell said the law usurps administrators' decision-making for 
when to kick kids out of school.

"College administrators have the discretion to kick kids out, but 
this blanket one-size-fits-all policy from Washington usurps that 
decision-making process," Angell said.

The University of Iowa chapter of the Students for Sensible Drug 
Policy will have a parade on May 6 where they're going to have 
speakers and pass literature that they say details injustices against 
students. Chapter president Matthew Georges said the group hopes to 
increase public awareness of the law.

"We hope to get more people involved in writing the congressmen and 
telling them that we don't want this law," Georges said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom