Hea ActEssay Preview: Hea ActReport this essayIn our society, there are many obstacles that face students who are trying to obtain a college education. First, the student has to do well in high school, pass the S.A.T.s, and be able to afford to pay for a college education. For those who cant afford to pay for college there is Financial Aid. But what if financial aid was taken away from students based solely on one minor drug offense? I will address several reasons why I believe the Souder Amendment is unethical and why it should be repealed.
The Souder Amendment was developed by Rep. Mark Souder that denies financial aid to students with a drug conviction. This amendment is in total contradiction of the Higher Education Act which was developed in 1968 to provide financial aid to over 7 million students each year. Financial Aid was invented to provide financial assistance to students who come from low income families. Seeing how financial aid is solely based on the families financial household income, the money that is awarded to the family should not be in jeopardy if being taken away due to the students prior drug offense. By using this offense as a consequence to committing a drug related crime, it introduces many obstacles for middle class people,
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- The Supreme Court has emphasized that criminal charges should not be allowed to fall to the State or local police that make their own decisions about student financial support payments. Such charges, like criminal investigations, need to be heard within individual communities.
- This amendment is in total contradiction of the Higher Education Act which was developed by Sen. Richard Hanna to help students who might be facing criminal charges. The amendment gives additional help when states have decided to accept money from financial institutions. These assistance programs were introduced to aid the families of victims of the drug and alcohol abuse that resulted from their drug crime.”
- This amendment is in total contradiction of the Higher Education Act which is developing a program to assist in the transfer of the student’s tuition, fees and other payments to an “educational institution” (e.g., the district in the “least expensive” situation), thus not helping the families of the students faced by a financial institution.
- This new rule makes it extremely difficult for students who may be facing criminal charges to get assistance because of their drug and alcohol addiction and the amount of time they had to commit multiple drug arrests. It will put undue burdens on both families and children.”
- What this amendment does is set the stage for the “least expensive” issue to occur in court. It will help provide financial financial assistance under the more expensive circumstance in some low-income districts so that they have increased funds for drug treatment, and it will make a difference to the families of students who may be placed in those families for more lengthy periods of time because of the high cost of drug treatment. However, if an individual court decides to accept the assistance of the district as a whole, as the higher court did, then this decision must be determined by the school district and not the parents.”
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“This bill will strengthen the First Amendment. As we will see in the Senate, our Supreme Court decisions may sometimes determine that individuals deserve to have their rights protected under the First Amendment. This bill makes this a very important consideration. This is why we are signing on to have a bill make it to the Senate that gives parents the ability to opt out of some form of drug treatment after one year of drug treatment.”
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“While these reforms will not eliminate the high costs of drugs, they may in some situations make life for struggling students more complex. Many students who have already received financial counseling have found it difficult to find and retain a financial counselor. This means student financial aid is increasingly often restricted to struggling students and families who may be considered for help. This amendment will make it even easier for
minorities, and it ignores the most widely abused drug on college campuses – alcohol.Working class students are the majority of people thatattend college on scholarships and financial aid. While in school, experimentation may introduce itself as something that should be done while attending college. The consequences of allowing yourself to fall victim to drinking or taking drugs previously only had the consequence of a tremendous hang over the next morning. If caught by an official abusing drugs or alcohol, detainment would normally occur and several minor measures would be met to ensure the diversion of attempting to “experiment” again. But now that the Souder Amendment has been drafted, that one offense prevents a student from obtaining anymore government financed money to attend school. This is unethical to me because after the student realizes their mistakes and suffers the embarrassment of getting caught, they now have the burden of trying to obtain money to continue to pay for school. Quickly raising several thousands of dollars to pay for their next semester rarely happens and they are forced to take a semester off of school to save up so they can enroll the following semester. While out of school, the student may be at risk to fall victim to abusing more drugs, seeing how no further measures were taken to provide the
student with help while out of school. Stress and the sense of failure may overcome the students life and the idea of continuing their college education becomes a fading memory. While one experiment with some friends seemed fun while in
school, the idea of your entire college career being stripped away from you is a much bigger burden that no student should have to worry about.Minorities make up a very large percentage of college students in the U.S. Out of that minority, African Americans and Latinos seem to hold onto about 35% combined. As this is already a low percentage, the number will inevitably decrease because of the Souder Amendment due to the fact that minorities are the leading obtainers of financial aid. Upper class individuals, usually Caucasian students, are not affected what so ever by this Amendment because they can afford to pay for school on their own. This is unjust because it basically sends a message that its okay to experiment with drugs and get caught as long as you can afford to pay for school on your own. With the number of minorities in college decreasing, minorities high school who are seniors, will become hesitant to attend the majority of Cal States and Universities due to the low percentage of African American and Latino students. The Souder Amendment