Higher Education Act (HEA) Drug Provisions

WHEREAS, the Higher Education Act was created to establish federal financial aid programs such as Perkins Loans, Pell Grants, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, PLUS Loans and Work-Study Programs; and

WHEREAS, the 1998 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act included a new provisions that closes college opportunities to students revealing drug convictions on their application forms; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Education estimates that 40,000 to 60,000 students, will be formally denied financial aid during the 2001-2002 academic year; and

WHEREAS, this provision will disproportionately and primarily impact persons of lower socio-economic status and students of color by denying access to higher education funding; and

WHEREAS, this provision violates the premises of the 14th amendment of the United States Constitution by allowing students in higher economic brackets to be exempt from this form of punishment.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the NAACP call for the immediate repeal of the Drug Provisions Section of the Higher Education Act.