Berkeley HEA reform

At UC Berkeley, SSDPers are fighting back against the HEA Aid Elimination Penalty on their own campus. Thanks to SSDP’s contacts at Berkeley, the student Senate passed a bill creating a scholarship fund for students who have lost aid due to drug convictions. 

“The student government is doing what is necessary to provide the means to an education for students in need,” said UC Berkeley student David Wasserman, the bill’s author. “We at Berkeley are happy to help lead a national movement to eliminate this harmful and unfair penalty, and we hope that students from other schools will continue to get involved.”

SSDP’s Kris Krane also testified in the student senate to support the bill. The $400 scholarship, which can only be spent on college-related expenses, comes out of the student government’s budget. Scholarship recipients must maintain a 2.5 grade-point average, perform 20 hours of community service, and they have the “moral obligation” to contribute to the scholarship fund once they are able to do so.

California has a disproportionately high rate of students affected by the HEA penalty: one in every 278 applicants, 44% higher than the national average.

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