Yale University recently implemented a new policy that will allow students convicted of drug-related offenses to receive institutional financial assistance if the student undergoes rehabilitation.
Yale is now the fourth, and arguably most elite, school to adopt this kind of policy, joining Swarthmore and Hampshire colleges and Western Washington University.
Yale's decision stems from the Higher Education Act of 1998, in which there is a stipulation that any student convicted of a drug-related offense could have federal financial aid revoked until that student had completed rehabilitation.
Federal law requires drug offenders applying to or studying at any university in the country -- and hoping to be given financial aid -- to acknowledge any prior offenses when filling out their yearly Free Application for Federal Student Aid forms.
Few students took notice until 2000 when the Bush administration actually began enforcing the stipulation. Currently, any drug offender applying through FAFSA for federal assistance will be automatically rejected or have the option to receive aid after completing a drug rehabilitation program.
Student protesters say this new policy is a derailment from continuing education while going through rehabilitation. And at the four schools that compensate students victim to the law, that protest has been very influential.
"I think everyone pretty much in higher education recognizes this as a bad law and the Ivies generally have the money to circumvent it in this manner and we'll make a stand that way and hopefully that'll lead the law to getting repealed," Yale junior Vidhya Probhakaran said.
As president of the Yale College Council, the student government group that spurred the school's new policy, Probhakaran knows first-hand the struggle students across the nation are engaged in to overcome a law he describes as "a bad one and fairly discriminatory."
Now, if a current or prospective student at Yale holds prior drug charges, he or she may continue on aid from the university's budget while attending counseling at the school's health service center.
But is the policy, then, in opposition to the law? For Yale spokesperson Tom Conroy, the answer is no.
"The policy at Yale was adopted to address the concern that a student might have to interrupt their education because he or she did not have sufficient funds," not as a means of opposing the law, according to Conroy.
Hampshire College, which set the precedent for offering students in rehab assistance earlier this month, has a similar philosophy.
At Hampshire, the push for a policy change stemmed mostly from the group Students for a Sensible Drug Policy and the change came about when the college's student-run Community Council decided to offer student drug offenders an endowment from student government funds.
Although the idea came mostly from the students, the change was supported by the entire Hampshire community, according to Director of Financial Aid Kathy Methot.
"A college education is all about educating somebody to be a better citizen and the future of our country lies with our students," Methot said.
Swarthmore spokesman Tom Krattenmaker also places more significance on student performance on the whole, as opposed to focusing on prior mistakes.
Swarthmore decided to aid students in rehab in February.
"We're not condoning or defending drug use, but we think [drug use] would bear more on admissions and whether a student could remain in good standing or not," Krattenmaker said.
Krattenmaker added that, "We see it as a reaction to our long-standing policy of meeting needs for financial aid. If someone is at Swarthmore, they're going to get their financial aid one way or another."
To determine if someone should even be at Swarthmore, the current entrance application contains some indirect questions on prior offenses, and Krattenmaker believes that in the following years, the application will contain more direct questions of that nature.
Thus, although Swarthmore has the intention of providing worthy students with financial aid, the school's definition of who is accepted in the first place, based on prior offenses, will run parallel in stringency to the new aid policy.
As for the populace that the policy will effect, "students are generally pleased that Swarthmore has taken a stance," Krattenmaker said.
Western Washington University has taken a slightly different approach by offering one student convicted of drug-related offenses, current or prospective, the opportunity to have a $750 scholarship for the academic year for which he or she applies.
The Associated Students Board at the university first extended its offer Jan. 17, 2002 as "an idea to help people who were showing a desire to make their lives better," according to Associated Students President Corey Eichner.
Applicants for Western Washington's scholarship must submit two letters of recommendation, one of which must be from a person involved in their rehabilitation.
As for student interest at Penn for a similar policy change to those recently espoused by Yale and the other schools, Drug and Alcohol Resource Team spokeswoman Stephanie Ives knows of no such groups.
"If it were to be a topic of conversation at Penn, we would all have to be very educated about all the different facets of the issue," Ives said.
Student government at Penn also has little interest currently in pursuing a policy change.
"I know that our committee has no plans to do this as of now [but] if we feel that it would be [a change] that would benefit the students, I'm sure we'll take it up," former Student Committee on Undergraduate Education Chairwoman Lindsey Mathews said.
"I wouldn't be adverse to the notion," SCUE Chairman Jacob Cytryn added.
Neither Yale, Hampshire, Swarthmore nor Western Washington have yet had students apply or express interest in receiving school aid during rehabilitation.
