Spring Break
Unfair drug law
Scholarship policy punishes students for crimes already handled by the courts
By: Lindsay Orman
Issue date: 3/26/04 Section: Opinion
Souder blames the Clinton and Bush administrations for the misapplication of the law, saying they transformed it from its intended purpose of discouraging drug use among financial aid recipients to a means of keeping reformed offenders from getting an education, arguably the most essential factor in rising above a life of drug use.
Education is especially important for poor students, if they are to escape poverty and the lifestyle of crime that so often accompanies it. These students are hardest hit by the law, as wealthier students are more likely to attend college, without federal aid. The discrimination is intensified by the fact that wealthy families are also more likely to avoid drug convictions in the first place, as they can afford more expensive legal counsel, according to University Wire.
In defense of the provision, proponents cite the stipulation that students can regain aid through attending drug treatment. However, many treatment programs are as expensive as a year of college, coverage by private insurance companies is scant and in some states such as Connecticut, subsidies for inpatient youth treatment have been virtually eliminated, as reported by The Associated Press. "If I couldn't afford to pay for school, then how was I supposed to pay for these programs?" one student said to the Times.
Congress is scheduled to clarify the law, as the president's latest budget includes a commitment for its revision. According to the proposed change, the law would then apply only to students already in college when the offense was committed. Though this revised law would be better than the first, it would continue to discriminate against poor offenders and hinder small or first-time offenders from finishing their educations in a move
more conducive to perpetuating their drug use than ending it.
As Jen Choi points out in The Lantern, Ohio State University's newspaper, both the current law and the proposed revision must be abandoned as they are contrary to the "ultimate goal of the Higher Education Act, to make college more accessible to all students; not more difficult."
Education is especially important for poor students, if they are to escape poverty and the lifestyle of crime that so often accompanies it. These students are hardest hit by the law, as wealthier students are more likely to attend college, without federal aid. The discrimination is intensified by the fact that wealthy families are also more likely to avoid drug convictions in the first place, as they can afford more expensive legal counsel, according to University Wire.
In defense of the provision, proponents cite the stipulation that students can regain aid through attending drug treatment. However, many treatment programs are as expensive as a year of college, coverage by private insurance companies is scant and in some states such as Connecticut, subsidies for inpatient youth treatment have been virtually eliminated, as reported by The Associated Press. "If I couldn't afford to pay for school, then how was I supposed to pay for these programs?" one student said to the Times.
Congress is scheduled to clarify the law, as the president's latest budget includes a commitment for its revision. According to the proposed change, the law would then apply only to students already in college when the offense was committed. Though this revised law would be better than the first, it would continue to discriminate against poor offenders and hinder small or first-time offenders from finishing their educations in a move
more conducive to perpetuating their drug use than ending it.
As Jen Choi points out in The Lantern, Ohio State University's newspaper, both the current law and the proposed revision must be abandoned as they are contrary to the "ultimate goal of the Higher Education Act, to make college more accessible to all students; not more difficult."
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