FAFSA EXCLUSION POLICY SPARKS SUIT

A Group Is Suing To Change A Provision Denying Federal Aid To
Students Convicted Of Drug Crimes

Question 31 of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, a
familiar document to more than half of the University's students,
reads: "Have you ever been convicted of possessing or selling illegal drugs?"

Students who answer yes to it don't get federal financial aid.

Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a national student group based in
Washington, D.C., has filed a class action lawsuit challenging the
provision of the Higher Education Act Amendments of 1998 that has
stripped federal financial aid from more than 150,000 students
convicted of drug possession or distribution since it was enacted in 2000.

The lawsuit, filed on March 22, names U.S. Secretary of Education
Margaret Spellings as the defendant.

The original author of the provision has blasted the lawsuit as
nothing more than an "attention-getting device" and said that the
law is fair because it allows students to go through treatment to get
federal aid back.

Ilona Koleszar, director of ASUO Legal Services, said the issue arose
at the University 10 to 12 times winter term, but that none of the
students involved have filed suit to retrieve their financial aid.
The students, she said, were either leaving school, were wealthy
enough not to rely on financial aid or have decided to deal with the
costs of school as best they can.

In the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court in South Dakota,
SSDP alleges that the provision barring federal aid to convicted
students is unconstitutional because it violates the Double Jeopardy
and Due Process clauses of the Fifth Amendment.

In an interview, SSDP Executive Director Kris Krane said the law,
beyond its unconstitutionality, currently forces students who rely on
financial aid to leave school or take out loans with ludicrous
interest rates that may cripple them upon graduation.

Krane also said the law is unfair because it focuses solely on
students convicted of drug offenses. Students who commit any other
crime, such as burglary, rape, assault or murder, can fill out their
FAFSAs with a clean conscience and receive as much government subsidy
as allowed by law, Krane said.

Martin Green, spokesman for U.S. Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., who wrote
the provision, called SSDP's allegations "the exact opposite of the truth."

"This lawsuit is nothing more than an attention-getting device," Green said.

The first conviction of possession, the law bars a student from
receiving aid for one year. On the third conviction, the law suspends
a student's rights indefinitely. A student convicted of selling drugs
is ineligible for aid for two years after the first offense and
indefinitely after the second offense.

Students who complete a rehabilitation program and submit to two
unannounced drug tests will again receive access to aid regardless of
their crime, Green said.

Green said that students who use drugs while on financial aid exploit
the trust of the American taxpayer.

"The intent of the law," Green said, "is to discourage drug use and
provide accountability to taxpayers."

The law is constitutional, he said, and does not punish students but
encourages them to seek treatment.

Green said Souder is open to considering legislation that would strip
financial aid to all students convicted of felonies.

Koleszar said that while students can get their federal aid back if
they go through diversion, but the law is wrong and cruel in part
because it "penalizes people for youthful acts."

According to the SSDP Web site, the group provides education on harms
caused by the "War on Drugs" and promotes "rational discussion of
alternative solutions to our nation's drug problems." The site states
that the group is non-violent, non-profit and neither condemns nor
encourages drug use.

Spellings worked for six years as a senior advisor to then-Gov.
George W. Bush in Texas, according to her online biography. During
Busha€TMs first term she worked as an assistant to the president for
domestic policy. The Senate confirmed her as the education secretary
in January 2005.