Nearly 3,000 Wisconsin students have been denied financial aid for college under a federal law that remains controversial even as it undergoes reform.
The law prohibits people who have been convicted of selling or possessing drugs from receiving Pell Grants and other forms of federal financial aid. Since 2000, it has been used to refuse assistance to more than 189,000 needy students, including 2,897 in Wisconsin, according to a state-by-state breakdown released for the first time by the U.S. Department of Education.
Wisconsin legislators are pushing for a state version of the law, arguing that college students with drug offenses are undeserving of any form of taxpayer aid.
But critics say the federal law amounts to double jeopardy, and that children from low-income families are being denied the right to pursue a higher education.
"It's really unfair," said Nathan Bush, a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who is a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit challenging the law.
I read this story and see all the liberals trying to get your tax money and give it to drug addicts to go to college. And if you want to comment and say you have done drugs and you are okay...I don't want to hear it. These kids, especially in the inner city, have too many people giving them free pass after free pass. If they see that they will have to suffer the consequences for their actions. If they continue to do the wrong thing, they deserve a crappy job or living in jail
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5 comments:
Thats BS. There is no reason to link drug conviction and access to college.
they are not, they are saying if you want to get hooked up with drugs, then tax payers don't have to give you money...
maybe if kids thought they had consequences, they would think a bit harder about what they did...
And I don't know anyone who got hooked on drugs and was BETTER off for it...lots of, "man, I was dumb then"
Dear Clint, where does it say anything about drug dealers or addicts? It doesnt, it says that anyone with a drug-related conviction is ineligible for federal student aid. It also says nothing about a limit. Someone who got busted for having a joint on them 5 years ago is in the same category as someone who just got out of jail for selling crack to kids. Its stupid. Also, it another show of hypocrisy, why isnt alcohol in the list of 'drugs'? Isnt someone who got busted drinking at 19 just as much a criminal, under that mode of thought? I'll help you out, Clint. The answer is yes. So, gentlemen, as always it is the thinking behind the statements that I reproach. Though, in this case, it is the lack of thinking.
not quite the same...drugs are never legal...alcohol might be illegal at certain ages, but not completely...
And there should be a minimum...but the minimum would only give one strike....in this game strike two would mean you are out
Quote Clint:
Please try to remember that the govt's budget is not without end. There are a limited amount of resources.
Yeah, that $87 bil sure went fast on the oil in Iraq, instead of a health care plan in the U.S. :-p
Has severly cut the resources.
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