Financial Aid for All Students
In an important victory for recovery advocates, eligibility for financial aid is being restored to all students with prior drug convictions. In a Faces & Voices of Recovery press release Merlyn Karst, chair of the Faces & Voices of Recovery Board of Directors said, We applaud this important first step in making financial aid available to all Americans. It will increase the availability of aid to thousands of people, many of whom are in recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs.
The Budget Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 includes a provision that will help people with prior drug convictions regain eligibility for federal student financial aid. Repeal of the ban on federal financial aid to students with drug convictions is one element of Faces & Voices of Recoverys Right to Addiction Recovery platform. The victory comes after years of work by recovery advocates and their allies since the ban was passed in 1998. Since then over 100,000 students have been denied aid, many of them in recovery.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Let people know about their right to student financial aid.
1. Put up our flyer where people in recovery and their family members will see it at Recovery Centers, treatment centers and other places where the recovery community gathers.
2. Put articles in newspapers and on your listservs.
How the New Law Will Work
The new law goes into effect on July 1, 2006. People will be able to receive aid unless they are convicted of a drug felony or misdemeanor while in school. Students convicted while receiving federal aid will remain ineligible for one year for a first possession offense, two years for a second and indefinitely for a third, with harsher penalties for sales.
People can participate in treatment programs in order to qualify for their aid to be restored. However accessing treatment services can be extremely difficult. The federal governments Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Institute of Medicine have estimated that only 20% of the individuals who need drug and alcohol treatment in any given year receive care.
The US Department of Education, which oversees the new law, will be deciding how it will be implemented over the next few months. In the meantime, if you have a prior drug conviction or know of someone who has one and is thinking about going back to school, talk with a financial aid counselor at the school you would like to attend about filling out the FAFSA financial aid form.
Faces & Voices will continue to work for full repeal. Under the law, students convicted while receiving federal aid will still lose their eligibility for one year for a first possession offense, two years for a second and indefinitely for a third, with harsher penalties for selling. We will also continue to work to remove the drug conviction question from the financial aid form.
What kind of assistance can be denied? All federal student financial aid including loans, grants, scholarships, and work-study opportunities.
Which higher educational institutions accept students using aid? All types of colleges and career schools including community colleges, technical institutes and universities.
How many students have not applied for federal student assistance because they must answer a question about their drug convictions? Thousands of students have left the question blank or failed to return their worksheets. The question on the application is especially harmful because it suggests that any prior drug conviction can doom ones chances of ever getting aid.
