Post by RPankn on Dec 5, 2005 17:42:13 GMT -5
Restrictions on scholarships could soon change
By Diane Hirth
DEMOCRAT SENIOR WRITER
There's a catch to qualifying for financial aid.
People with a drug or felony conviction often are ineligible for the generously funded public programs that make college affordable. [Unless your name is Noelle or George P. Bush.]
Bright Futures, the scholarship paying all or most of tuition to Florida students with top grades and test scores, is off-limits to anyone convicted of a felony or to anyone who's pleaded no contest to a felony charge. [I wouldn't say they're missing anything. They're probably smarter before they enter Florida's education system than when they graduate from it.]
The Pell Grant for low-income students, as well as other federal financial aid, is generally unavailable to people with a conviction involving possession or sale of illegal drugs.
"There's a lot of financial aid you can't get if you have a felony," said T.K. Wetherell, Florida State University president. "The other side of it is, how many of us in our lives screwed up something? Most of us made some mistake in our young lives, then got it all back together and became productive citizens." [I can almost guarantee the same people responsible for these measures will complain about the recitivism rates of former felons. But instead of examining the causes, they'll just suggest more draconian punishments.]
The issue affects college access - with 175,000 applicants refused federal financial aid since 1998 because of their criminal drug histories, according to the Washington D.C.-based Legal Action Center.
It's generated a lot less controversy in Florida than the fact that felons are not allowed to vote.
But the status quo is being agitated by the conservative congressman who authored the original financial-aid-ineligibility rule for those guilty of drug crimes.
U.S. Rep. Mark Souder, R-Indiana, wants the provision more narrowly enforced. He would stop financial aid only if students are caught with illegal drugs while they're in college. The punishment wouldn't be retroactive, which is what Souder said he intended all along.
"Congressman Souder abhors any illegal drug use," his press secretary, Martin Green said. However, "The congressman's original intent in this provision stipulated it only apply to students convicted of drug crimes when they're students, not before they apply."
Souder's proposal is part of congressional negotiations over budget cuts and reauthorization of the federal higher-education act.
Others would repeal financial-aid restrictions altogether, in the interest of giving a second chance to people to straighten up and study their way into a better future. [How about cutting funding to the war machine, and crazy, useless programs like Rumsfeld's "rods of God," or missile defense and redirecting that money toward education so young adults have carrer opportunities available them, instead of wondering why some become drug dealers, or resort to crime?]
"I don't think it's necessary to come back and add additional punishment by making it difficult or impossible to get aid to better themselves through getting higher education," state Rep. Curtis Richardson, D-Tallahassee, said. His concern is the restrictions fall hardest on the poor and minorities.
"It really demonstrates the criminalization of addiction," said Pat Taylor, executive director of Faces and Voices of Recovery in Washington, D.C. "Once someone has paid a debt to society, instead of helping them get back on their feet, we're erecting barriers."
But the argument remains: Should taxpayers shell out college aid to lawbreakers?
State Attorney Willie Meggs of the 2nd Judicial Circuit said it's unfair to treat everyone the same on scholarships.
"It seems in our society people who get the attention are those who break the rules, and people who follow the rules get the short end of the stick," Meggs said. "For me it's a no-brainer to give it the one who's law-abiding."
Said state Rep. Dennis Baxley, House Education Council chairman, "I don't think higher education is necessarily an entitlement. It's an opportunity." Bright Futures is about "excellence in conduct, staying out of trouble and making good grades," he said. [This is one of the many time I felt like I moved into some alternate reality when I came to Florida. It's like I live around pod people.]
Bill Spiers, Tallahassee Community College's director of financial aid, said few students are losing access to financial aid because there is a waiver in federal law for anyone completing drug treatment.
But denying college aid to the people mostly likely to get bogged down in poverty, crime and addiction doesn't make sense, others say. Public Defender Nancy Daniels, also of the 2nd Judicial Circuit, said it's an even tougher situation with the Florida Legislature busily turning crimes that once were misdemeanors into felonies.
''It's almost like a permanent stigmatization now in your life, even if the one offense happened at age 18, it stays your whole life," Daniels said.
Contact Senior Writer Diane Hirth at (850) 671-6546 or dhirth@tallahassee.com.
Originally published December 5, 2005
www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051205/NEWS01/512050335/1010
By Diane Hirth
DEMOCRAT SENIOR WRITER
There's a catch to qualifying for financial aid.
People with a drug or felony conviction often are ineligible for the generously funded public programs that make college affordable. [Unless your name is Noelle or George P. Bush.]
Bright Futures, the scholarship paying all or most of tuition to Florida students with top grades and test scores, is off-limits to anyone convicted of a felony or to anyone who's pleaded no contest to a felony charge. [I wouldn't say they're missing anything. They're probably smarter before they enter Florida's education system than when they graduate from it.]
The Pell Grant for low-income students, as well as other federal financial aid, is generally unavailable to people with a conviction involving possession or sale of illegal drugs.
"There's a lot of financial aid you can't get if you have a felony," said T.K. Wetherell, Florida State University president. "The other side of it is, how many of us in our lives screwed up something? Most of us made some mistake in our young lives, then got it all back together and became productive citizens." [I can almost guarantee the same people responsible for these measures will complain about the recitivism rates of former felons. But instead of examining the causes, they'll just suggest more draconian punishments.]
The issue affects college access - with 175,000 applicants refused federal financial aid since 1998 because of their criminal drug histories, according to the Washington D.C.-based Legal Action Center.
It's generated a lot less controversy in Florida than the fact that felons are not allowed to vote.
But the status quo is being agitated by the conservative congressman who authored the original financial-aid-ineligibility rule for those guilty of drug crimes.
U.S. Rep. Mark Souder, R-Indiana, wants the provision more narrowly enforced. He would stop financial aid only if students are caught with illegal drugs while they're in college. The punishment wouldn't be retroactive, which is what Souder said he intended all along.
"Congressman Souder abhors any illegal drug use," his press secretary, Martin Green said. However, "The congressman's original intent in this provision stipulated it only apply to students convicted of drug crimes when they're students, not before they apply."
Souder's proposal is part of congressional negotiations over budget cuts and reauthorization of the federal higher-education act.
Others would repeal financial-aid restrictions altogether, in the interest of giving a second chance to people to straighten up and study their way into a better future. [How about cutting funding to the war machine, and crazy, useless programs like Rumsfeld's "rods of God," or missile defense and redirecting that money toward education so young adults have carrer opportunities available them, instead of wondering why some become drug dealers, or resort to crime?]
"I don't think it's necessary to come back and add additional punishment by making it difficult or impossible to get aid to better themselves through getting higher education," state Rep. Curtis Richardson, D-Tallahassee, said. His concern is the restrictions fall hardest on the poor and minorities.
"It really demonstrates the criminalization of addiction," said Pat Taylor, executive director of Faces and Voices of Recovery in Washington, D.C. "Once someone has paid a debt to society, instead of helping them get back on their feet, we're erecting barriers."
But the argument remains: Should taxpayers shell out college aid to lawbreakers?
State Attorney Willie Meggs of the 2nd Judicial Circuit said it's unfair to treat everyone the same on scholarships.
"It seems in our society people who get the attention are those who break the rules, and people who follow the rules get the short end of the stick," Meggs said. "For me it's a no-brainer to give it the one who's law-abiding."
Said state Rep. Dennis Baxley, House Education Council chairman, "I don't think higher education is necessarily an entitlement. It's an opportunity." Bright Futures is about "excellence in conduct, staying out of trouble and making good grades," he said. [This is one of the many time I felt like I moved into some alternate reality when I came to Florida. It's like I live around pod people.]
Bill Spiers, Tallahassee Community College's director of financial aid, said few students are losing access to financial aid because there is a waiver in federal law for anyone completing drug treatment.
But denying college aid to the people mostly likely to get bogged down in poverty, crime and addiction doesn't make sense, others say. Public Defender Nancy Daniels, also of the 2nd Judicial Circuit, said it's an even tougher situation with the Florida Legislature busily turning crimes that once were misdemeanors into felonies.
''It's almost like a permanent stigmatization now in your life, even if the one offense happened at age 18, it stays your whole life," Daniels said.
Contact Senior Writer Diane Hirth at (850) 671-6546 or dhirth@tallahassee.com.
Originally published December 5, 2005
www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051205/NEWS01/512050335/1010