|
« AAUP Homepage
|
Drug Law Denies Aid to Thousands of Students
By Gwendolyn Bradley
A report issued in September by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that federal laws barring citizens who have drug convictions from receiving certain benefits, including federal financial aid, have resulted in about 20,000 students a year being turned down for Pell Grants and 30,000 or 40,000 being denied access to student loans. There may be some overlap between the two sets of students. The GAO notes that the number of people affected by the laws is likely greater, since its report counts only those who applied for and were denied aid, but not those who did not apply for aid because they assumed they would be denied.
|