"SUNY Morrisville offers a cannabis studies minor in which students can focus on the plant science, horticulture and business of cannabis. Associate Professor Kelly Hennigan said as students returned to campus this week that she’s been “inundated” with requests to join the program’s introductory course, “CANA 101,'" POLITICO reports. 

"But students who enroll in the program will never actually handle marijuana. Because of federal illegality, schools that receive federal funding are typically limited to working with hemp, marijuana’s legal, non-psychoactive sibling."

..."While the Department of Education controls federal school funding, the agency is not actually involved in evaluating schools’ coursework. Instead, ED has contracts with accrediting agencies to develop criteria for college curricula and conduct assessments of whether a school has met those standards.

Schools must be accredited in order to be eligible for federal funds, including federal student aid. As long as a school’s cannabis workarounds and approaches meet accreditors’ criteria, their funding is expected to be safe, said Justin Draeger, president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

'It would be unusual for [ED] to wade into an accrediting issue,' Draeger said."

NASFAA's "Notable Headlines" section highlights media coverage of financial aid to help members stay up to date with the latest news. Articles included under the notable headlines section are not written by NASFAA, but rather by external sources. Inclusion in Today's News does not imply endorsement of the material or guarantee the accuracy of information presented.

Publication Date: 8/27/2021