Aid Relief in Sight for Students Convicted of Drug Crimes

MINNEAPOLIS

Congress is re-evaluating a five-year old law that denies financial aid to college students with drug convictions.

Tens of thousands of students are denied federal grants and loans every year because of drug-crime convictions. In September, the House will vote on a bill that could change that.

The bill would allow students convicted of drug crimes before they started college to be eligible for federal aid. Students convicted during college, however, are out of luck.

"There needs to be some incentive to keep you from getting on drugs,'' said Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., a member of the House Education Committee that approved the plan last week. "The loss of your student aid is an appropriate tool.''

Kline said the bill was pretty straightforward.

"It simply says if you're getting aid and using drugs, you should stop or get help, or you're not going to get the aid.''

Critics of the proposed change say the bill doesn't go far enough, the bill should get rid of the law entirely. And they charge the bill is discriminatory, because most people convicted on drug charges are minorities or from low-income families.

"The drug provision is about identifying a group of individuals and saying they are unworthy because they have made bad decisions in the past,'' said Lissa Jones, executive director of Minnesota-based African American Family Services.

Chris Mulligan, campaign director of the Coalition for Higher Education Act Reform, estimated that 35,000 students lose their aid every year because of the provision. Officials say there is no way to track the law's effect because convicted students usually don't apply for aid.

"It's still really going to affect the average college student caught with a joint on campus,'' he said.

Jill Johnson, 21, paid a $600 fine last summer after trying to sneak marijuana and a pipe into a concert. She said she shouldn't be denied aid for only smoking occasionally.