With the new school year coming around, Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, has introduced legislation that would \u201cstreamline\u201d the student financial aid application process. Among its provisions is the elimination of drug convictions as a bar to federal financial aid.<\/p>\n
At question is the document formally known as the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA<\/a>), which includes the following text: \u201cHave you been convicted for the possession or sale of illegal drugs for an offense that occurred while you were receiving federal student aid (such as grants, work-study, or loans)?\u201d<\/p>\n According to Booker\u2019s\u00a0press release<\/a>, the Simplifying Financial Aid for Students Act of 2018 \u201cwould simplify the FAFSA form, making it more accessible and easier to complete for low-income students by greatly reducing the number of questions a student would need to answer if she or he is a recipient of a means-tested program\u2026\u201d A\u00a0means-tested program<\/a>\u00a0is any government program intended to assist those whose incomes fall below a designated level.<\/p>\n The aim of the bill, which applies to both graduate and undergraduate students, is \u201cto help more underserved students have access to financial aid and attend college.\u201d It is being co-sponsored by Democratic senators Richard Blumenthal, Kirsten Gillibrand, Jeff Merkley, Doug Jones, Kamala Harris and Catherine Cortez Masto. So far, the bill has no Republican co-sponsors.<\/p>\n Statements by the sponsors only alluded to their proposed elimination of the drug-conviction provision \u2014 although it is arguably the bill\u2019s most important measure.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know that when a student completes the federal financial aid form, he or she is more likely to receive aid, attend college and graduate from college,\u201d Booker said in a press release. \u201cBut sadly, less than half of today\u2019s high school students complete the form, and students from underserved backgrounds complete the form at even lower rates than their peers. We must make the process of obtaining aid for higher education easier. Our bill would simplify the complicated process in order to reduce barriers to higher learning for students from marginalized populations.\u201d<\/p>\n The Simplifying Financial Aid for Students Act of 2018 contains several provisions to remove obstacles to student aid, many of which help students from marginalized backgrounds. For example, it would automatically deem a student eligible for a \u201czero expected family contribution\u201d determination if the student or their parents are recipients of means-tested programs and it would make\u00a0DREAMers<\/a> (undocumented immigrant youth who were raised in the United States) eligible for student aid.<\/p>\n And, of course, removing the requirement that students disclose prior drug convictions would help students of color, who have been disproportionately targeted by the War on Drugs<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to\u00a0a March report by Inside Higher Ed<\/a>, federal\u00a0Education Department statistics indicate that about 1,000 students each year lose full or partial access to federal student aid (called \u201cTitle IV aid<\/a>\u201d in reference to the relevant section of the 1965 Higher Education Act) because of a drug-related conviction.<\/p>\n Student advocacy organizations, however, argue those numbers don\u2019t reflect how many students don\u2019t even apply for aid because they assume they won\u2019t qualify due to this provision.<\/p>\n \u201cOur research has shown there\u2019s a drastic deterrent and discouraging factor by the question even being on the FAFSA,\u201d said Julie Ajinkya, vice president for applied research at the Institute for Higher Education Policy.<\/p>\n Speaking to Inside Higher Ed, Ajinkya emphasized that drug convictions disproportionately impact students of color \u2014 despite research indicating they use illegal drugs at rates comparable to their white peers. She said the denial of federal aid poses a \u201cracial equity issue.\u201d<\/p>\n The FAFSA\u2019s Question No. 23, asking applicants about drug convictions, was\u00a0added in 1998<\/a>, when lawmakers moved to deny federal aid to students with drug-related convictions. The restriction applies whether an applicant was convicted of a felony or\u00a0misdemeanor, whether the offense involved the sale or just possession and whether the conviction was under state or federal law. This provision bars or limits applicants from receiving\u00a0Pell Grants<\/a>,\u00a0Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Federal Work-Study<\/a>, as well as federal student loans.<\/p>\n In the ensuing years, tens of thousands of students lost access to federal grants and loans annually. A 2005\u00a0Government Accountability Office report<\/a>\u00a0found that in the 2003-04 academic year, more than 41,000 FAFSA applicants were ineligible for aid due to this provision.<\/p>\n The provision was reformed in 2006, with the law changed to only deny Title IV funds to applicants convicted of a drug offense while actually receiving student aid. But Education Department figures indicate that thousands of students have continued to lose out on aid in the years since then. During the 2016-17 student aid cycle, 1,032 FAFSA applicants were deemed fully ineligible due to a drug-related conviction \u2014 or because they simply failed to answer the question. Another 254 received a partial eligibility suspension.<\/p>\n Booker\u2019s bill now provides an opportunity to correct this injustice. However, getting it through a Republican-controlled Congress will certainly be a challenge.<\/p>\n TELL US<\/strong>,\u00a0do you think drug convictions should bar access to student financial aid?<\/p>\n The post A New Bill Would Eliminate Drug Convictions as Bar to Student Financial Aid<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
With the new school year coming around, Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, has introduced legislation that would \u201cstreamline\u201d the student financial aid application process. Among its provisions is the elimination of drug convictions as a bar to federal financial aid. At question is the document formally knownContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,5529,83,977,5530,5531,5532,1534,5533,5534,4211,5535,5536,81,5537,5538,5539],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28764"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28764"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28765,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28764\/revisions\/28765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}A Question of Racial Equity<\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: A New Bill Would Eliminate Drug Convictions as Bar to Student Financial Aid<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"