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Student Files Lawsuit
Freshman convicted for drug possession loses financial aid
Jessica Kerman | Ball State University News | 03/24/2006

A freshman at Ball State University, with the American Civil Liberties Union, filed a lawsuit Wednesday aiming to overturn a law that keeps students who are convicted of a drug violation from receiving federal financial aid.

Alexis Schwab, a public relations major, is one of three individuals involved in the lawsuit, teaming with the ACLU and the Students for Sensible Drug Policy Foundation. Schwab would not comment on the lawsuit, referring questions to her lawyer Adam Wolf.

Schwab was convicted for possession of marijuana and sentenced to community service in August. The conviction was her first offense. According to a statement made to the Associated Press, Wolf, a staff attorney for the ACLU, said Schwab had less than a gram of the drug.

"Funding education is one of the smartest uses of tax dollars," Wolf said in an interview Thursday. "If kids stay in college, they have a far greater chance of soon becoming productive tax payers. This law deters education, not drug use."

Congress enacted the law in 1998, which prevents students with drug convictions from receiving federal financial aid.

The law offers options to students to become eligible after a conviction. According to the law, someone convicted of possession of a controlled substance is ineligible for one year for a first offense, for two years for a second offense, and indefinitely ineligible for a third offense. However, if the student completes an "acceptable" drug rehabilitation program, he or she can receive federal financial aid.

Martin Green, a spokesman for Indiana Rep. Mark Souder, said Souder wrote the law because he believes students who abuse drugs should not be subsidized with the taxpayer's money.

Schwab received a $4,050 Pell grant for the 2005-2006 school year, but she is not eligible for the grant for next school year because of the conviction.

According the U.S. Board of Education, Schwab is one of 19 million undergraduate students who receive some type of assistance. According to Wolf, the law affects 35,000 students throughout the country.

The lawsuit is part of a series of initiatives to take the drug provision out of the Higher Education Act. In January, the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance recommended that the drug provision be removed from the financial aid application. In February, Congress changed the law to allow students with past offenses to receive financial aid, but not those convicted while enrolled in college. The lawsuit filed Wednesday claims that the law violates the Double Jeopardy Clause in the Fifth Amendment, as it punishes the student twice for the same crime. Wolf said the law causes several problems for the students.

The drug rehabilitation programs, while beneficial and appropriate, often present problems, he said.

Fees for the program can cost as much as, or more than, tuition in some cases, Wolf said.

One student in South Dakota, who is also involved in the lawsuit, had to pay more than $2,500 to take a second drug rehabilitation program because the one he initially took did not meet the guidelines Congress set, according to an article on Bloomberg.com. The lawsuit was filed in a U.S. District Court in South Dakota.

Also, the programs are hard to find, Wolf said.

"And their roles are for people with serious drug addictions," he said. "The vast majority of the people affected use drugs rarely."

Wolf said he feels the ACLU and the others in the lawsuit have strong claims.

"We're hoping that the court will agree with us that this law violates the constitution," he said.

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