Bill Before ASUC Helps Students Denied Aid

In a move that some say will improve educational accessibility, the ASUC Senate will consider a bill tonight granting scholarships to students previously denied financial aid due to a drug conviction.

The bill, authored by SQUELCH! Senator David Wasserman and sponsored by nine other senators, proposes to create the ASUC Removing Impediments to Students’ Education scholarship, which will grant $400 per scholarship to students who are ineligible for financial aid due to a drug conviction.

The scholarship, which could go into effect within the coming weeks if passed, would be available to all UC Berkeley and UC Berkeley Extension students denied financial aid due to a drug conviction. The grant requires that students have a 2.5 GPA and commit to 20 hours of community service.

The scholarship application also asks that students write a personal statement, which will be evaluated by a selections committee composed of four ASUC senators and the academic affairs vice president. Recipients must also donate to the scholarship program once financially able.

According to Wasserman, 31,000 students are left without financial aid in California because having a drug conviction is the only instance in which students are automatically barred from receiving financial aid.

“(Education) is a means to success, it’s a means to a future, it’s a means to a goal in life. Denying that is truly not fair,” said Berkeley College Republicans Senator Victoria Mitchell.

The 1965 Higher Education Act was passed to increase access to higher education through federal loans and grants, but the Aid Eliminaton Provision passed in 1998 denied applicants financial aid for one year if charged with drug possession and two years if charged with a drug sale, Wasserman said.

But many senators said the provision only makes the problem worse.

“(The provision) is a poor way to fight the war on drugs. It’s not right for the federal government to find the means to deprive (students with a drug conviction) of an education,” Wasserman said.

While some senators had initial reservations about the bill, many now said they see the bill’s merit.

“There was concern (among some senators) that the bill might encourage drug use,” said CalSERVE Senator Taylor Allbright. “But it encourages education. It encourages people who may have had difficulties to pick a better future through education.”

The bill also states that the ASUC Senate will author a letter detailing their concerns to Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and President George W. Bush in the hopes of repealing the Aid Elimination Provision.

“UC Berkeley is a beacon in the education community,” Mitchell said. “Legislators pay attention to what happens. We’re spearheading a movement.”

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