“Have you ever been convicted of possessing or selling illegal drugs?”
This is a common question on applications of all kinds, especially for college students who are asked to answer it when applying to a university, for campus or off-campus housing, for any kind of job with their university, and for federal financial aid to lower college costs.
A special committee created by Congress might be changing an aspect of this process. The committee was created to research possible ways in which students could receive more money when filling out the FAFSA. One solution that the committee has come up with is eliminating the drug question, which disqualifies students who have had a drug-related offense within the past one to two years from receiving federal aid.
The use of this question on the FAFSA stirs up controversy. Many feel that being disqualified prevents those who are already stuck in a world of drugs from ever getting out. To them, eliminating the question offers low-income individuals who need the aid but have had drug problems to overcome the conditions they live in and turn their lives around.
Others disagree, falling back on the idea that students who have refrained from using drugs deserve to be rewarded for doing so.
Perhaps a compromise of sorts is what would work best. At The Lantern, we propose a system that looks at each application on a case-by-case basis. We would like the question to remain on the FAFSA, but in answering yes, applicants would be asked to explain their situation to a committee that would evaluate various aspects — background, location, upbringing, etc. — and based on these aspects, applicants could be placed into a sliding scale that granted differing amounts of aid.
In these evaluations, timing and number of convictions would be a significant determining factor. This system would be similar to the system used by many employers to evaluate the significance of criminal charges future employees may have. In applying a similar system to the FAFSA, many aspects of an applicant’s life could be evaluated and combined to more fairly distribute federal aid to students that need it the most. Taxpayers could rest assured that their money is being used to support students who truly want an education and have shown they are willing to work for one.
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