Officials debate extending aid

ANNAPOLIS - Students expressed support yesterday for a bill that would ease federal restrictions preventing convicted drug offenders from receiving financial aid, saying in a hearing that students denied federal money for college should still be eligible for state financial aid.

An estimated 2,700 students of the 1.4 million who applied for aid were denied federal money for school because of drug convictions according to the organization Students for Sensible Drug Policy, but a bill introduced by Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez (D-Montgomery) seeks to ignore the federal denial and allow state aid. The state currently automatically denies any applicant who was denied federal aid.

Gutierrez said in an interview that besides the 2,700 who went without aid last year, thousands more students are deterred from ever pursuing financial aid because of a law that denies aid even to students whose offense included a simple possession charge.

"If kids think they're going to be denied, they don't even bother to apply," said Gutierrez. "Those are not going to show up in any statistics."

Testifying before the House Ways and Means committee yesterday, sophomore Anastacia Cosner, a communications major who leads this university's local Students for Sensible Drug Policy chapter, told legislators students shouldn't have to worry about financial aid after paying penalties for drug convictions.

"Many young people ... feel confused and more importantly frightened by all of the consequences that come from a drug conviction, especially the loss of financial assistance," Cosner said.

As the law stands, the state routinely requires students requesting state financial aid to also file for a federal aid request. But the state can automatically deny a student's request if the federal government denies an application. If Gutierrez's bill is passed, the state would no longer automatically deny state applications solely because the federal government does.

The denials originate when students fill out the federal FAFSA form, which requires students to answer whether they have been convicted of any drug violation. Because no law exists in Maryland that prevents students with drug convictions from receiving aid, Gutierrez expects fewer denials would occur at the state level.

"It's a federalist issue," Gutierrez said. "Don't take a bad federal policy and make it a bad Maryland policy."

State data shows that federal funds make up less than 1 percent of the state's financial aid distribution, and Gutierrez is also seeking to separate the federal from the state funds so there will be no future requirement to follow federal guidelines.

Gutierrez first became involved with this issue when Jonathan Sherwin, her legislative assistant at the time and a University of Maryland graduate, brought it up to her last year, she said. After investigating the issue, she submitted similar legislation in March 2006, but it was too late to pass the House.

Now that she has re-submitted it and it has picked up 20 other sponsors, she expressed confidence that it will pass this session.

The Higher Education Commission is not yet sure how the new legislation will affect aid distribution if it is passed.

"Until something like that gets implemented, it's hard to tell who it's going to effect," said Helen Szablya, a Higher Education Commission spokeswoman.

Jahantab Siddiqui, president of the university's Off-Campus Student Association, said in written testimony yesterday that "this bill is about improving access to higher education, we are not condoning illegal behavior."

Contact reporter Nathan Cohen at cohendbk@gmail.com.