From Capitol To Campus

President Bush has signed into law the 2002 Labor Health and Human Services bill that increases the maximum Pell Grant by $250, to $4,000, for the 2002 fiscal year and guarantees that eligible recipients will receive the full award amount.

A House-Senate Conference Committee had previously removed a provision from the legislation that would have given the Secretary of Education the authority to reduce the size of the maximum grant if there wasn't enough money in the budget to cover the increase.

Republican and Democratic authors of the final bill said that investments in Pell Grants are critical to stimulating the economy.

The U.S. Education Department has announced that it will not rescind a controversial regulation banning those convicted of drug violations before enrolling in college from receiving federal financial aid.

Since 2000, the Department has denied federal aid to applicants convicted of drug offenses before they entered college.

Many reform groups, as well as student, faculty, and university groups, including NEA, criticized the provision as unfair to those who've given up drugs and are trying to turn their lives around.

Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN), the author of the original drug provision, part of the 1998 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, said the ban was intended to apply only to students while they were in college.

A group of 23 Members of the House of Representatives, backed by many education groups, including NEA, introduced legislation (H.R. 786) in February to repeal the entire ban on federal financial aid to students with drug convictions.