Pubdate: Sun, 15 Jul 2001
Source: Columbus Dispatch (OH)
Copyright: 2001 The Columbus Dispatch
Contact:  http://www.dispatch.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/93
Author: Arlene Levinson, Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

DRUG OFFENSES MAY JEOPARDIZE COLLEGE AID FOR THOUSANDS

A ban on giving federal aid to college students with drug convictions could 
mean more than 34,000 people will be denied loans and grants in the coming 
school year -- more than triple those turned away in 2000-01.

The increase reflects a clarification in the U.S. Education Department's 
aid application, which screens for people with drug records. But the change 
has brought louder protests against the law. Even the measure's author says 
enforcement has been taken too far.

U.S. Rep. Mark Souder, an Indiana Republican, intended the aid ban to apply 
to college students already getting loans or grants when convicted, an aide 
said.

Instead, education officials in the Clinton administration and under 
President Bush are denying aid to people with previous drug convictions. 
Souder is trying to get them to change their enforcement efforts to match 
his intent, said Angela Flood, Souder's chief of staff.

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., has introduced a bill seeking the law's 
repeal. Repeal is also the aim of the fledgling Students for Sensible Drug 
Policy and its 140 campus chapters.

Higher-education leaders are protesting, too.

The law is "fundamentally flawed," and amounts to "double punishment" -- 
and bias -- against low-and middle-income students who must undergo 
screening while their wealthier peers do not, the head of the American 
Council on Education wrote in May to U.S. Rep. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark. 
Hutchinson is Bush's nominee to run the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The council is "concerned that this provision will prove to be an 
insurmountable obstacle to far too many students, causing many of them to 
abandon their hope of a college education," Stanley Ikenberry wrote on 
behalf of 13 groups, including the nation's major associations of colleges 
and universities.

The education agency is doing what Congress asked, said Lindsey Kozberg, 
Education Department spokeswoman.

"Consistent with the department's overall position, we seek applications 
from students that are complete and accurate, so we can provide aid to as 
many eligible students as possible," she said.

The law, approved in 1998, bars federal grants, work-study money and 
U.S.-backed and subsidized student loans to anyone convicted of selling or 
possessing drugs.

For a first drug-possession offense, ineligibility lasts a year after 
conviction; for a second offense, two years. More convictions bar aid 
indefinitely.

The law is tougher on traffickers. A drug-sale conviction means aid 
ineligibility for two years; more than that and the ban is indefinite. Aid 
can be restored if a student undergoes drug rehabilitation.

Enforcement starts when an applicant fills out the Free Application for 
Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. Question 35 on the 2001-02 aid form: "Have 
you ever been convicted of possessing or selling illegal drugs?"

A "yes" brings a second form in the mail, asking for details to determine 
if the aid ban applies in this case.

Those who fail to answer question 35 are asked again. If they don't answer, 
aid is automatically denied.

Phrasing on last year's form confused people: "If you have never been 
convicted of any illegal drug offense, enter 1 in the box."

Even after a follow-up letter, 279,098 people left the box blank. Federal 
officials blamed their flawed question, and granted aid to those who didn't 
answer. After consulting with focus groups, they changed the question to 
make it clearer.

About 9,548 people were denied aid in the 2000-01 cycle, but they were the 
applicants who admitted to having drug convictions.

This year, the government expects 10 million aid applications. Among 6.8 
million so far, 34,096 will likely be denied student aid, officials said.

While 21,993 disclosed a drug conviction making them ineligible, another 
12,103 failed to answer the drug question.

Unknown is how many the law scares off.

One is Todd Howard, a 32-year-old store clerk in Louisville, Ky.

Howard said he has two misdemeanor convictions for marijuana possession, 
one from 1996, the second this month. Howard said he has quit using the 
drug, and thinks it's irrelevant to his college plans.

"Ask me if I pay my loans back," he said. "Ask me if I would finish the 
course. Ask me if I would go out and try to get a job once I finish the 
courses."

He'll wait two years to become eligible for aid.
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