Congress May Ease Law on College Aid for Drug Offenders [View All]

[eridani]

http://www.truthout.org/080409X?n

College students convicted of illegal drug possession could get federal financial aid for the first time in more than a decade under legislation aimed at overhauling the student loan system.

The bill, which a House of Representatives committee approved recently and which the full House probably will consider after its August recess, says that those convicted of selling illegal drugs still would be barred from receiving federal financial aid.

However, students convicted of possession would be able to get loans, grants and work-study assistance.

"People who have been convicted of a drug crime are punished through our criminal justice system, which is entirely proper," said Melissa Salmanowitz, a spokeswoman for the Education and Labor Committee.

"Doubling a person's punishment - outside of our criminal justice system - by not allowing them needed financial aid to obtain a college degree is not only wrong, it's double jeopardy."

The provision, estimated to cost $24 million from 2011 to 2019, would overturn a 1998 law authored by Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind.