The Department of Education agreed this week to settle with Students for Sensible Drug Policy, which sued the agency in January over a Freedom of Information Act request. This marks an important victory in efforts to reform the Higher Education Act drug provision, which denies financial aid to many students with a past drug conviction.

SSDP first requested a state-by-state breakdown of students affected by the provision in 2004. The group sued the Department of Education in January 2006 after the agency attempted to charge the small nonprofit $4,000 for processing the data. This fee is normally levied for FOIA requests for commercial purposes, but is supposed to be waived for information in the public interest. The Department of Education tried to claim that this data was not in the public interest, saying it could lead to drug legalization. After the lawsuit was filed, the agency finally said it would turn over the information without the fee by the end of March.

This victory comes shortly after a partial reform to the HEA's drug provision passed by Congress earlier this year, which is expected to be signed by the president in the next few weeks. When the bill becomes law, some people with drug-related convictions who were previously ineligible for federal financial aid will be able to obtain support. However, the reform is limited to people who were not in school or receiving aid at the time of their conviction, which means it will apply primarily to nontraditional students returning to school after years outside the higher education system.

SSDP, DPA and other groups belonging to the Coalition for Higher Education Act Reform will continue to work for full repeal of the law.