STUDENTS QUESTION DRUG CLAUSE

UVM Association Might Join Petition Against Aid Rule

This fall, when college students filled out the standard form seeking
federal student aid, many paused as they came to Question 28.

Have you ever been convicted for selling or using drugs? Answering yes
makes students ineligible for financial aid.

More than 7,000 students nationally lost financial aid this fall because of
the drug question.

Students at the University of Vermont will decide whether to challenge that.

The UVM Student Government Association will vote Tuesday whether to sign a
petition joining more than 20 colleges and universities nationwide seeking
elimination of the provision that was added to the Higher Education Act.

"Our position is that some people make mistakes along the way, and when
they try to get back, we should not be putting up roadblocks," UVM Student
Government President Chris Allen said.

"It is not because we think people should be doing drugs. Why is it that we
are making it harder for these people to lift themselves back up? Doesn't
this go in the opposite direction of what's fair."

Grace Uckele, 20, a former UVM student, pushed heavily for the student
government to join the fight.

"The government should be making it easier for people to become educated
instead of harder," she said.

Dennis DePaul, associate director of financial aid at UVM, said only one
student at the university was denied financial benefits because of the drug
provision, but the university made sure the student received financial
assistance.

"We decided to make up all of the aid with institutional money," DePaul
said. "We did not agree with the provision."

Chris Evans, assistant campus coordinator for the Higher Education Act
reform project, a nonprofit organization dedicated torepealing the drug
provision, said he expects to win the fight.

Supporters of the drug provision maintain that it brings accountability to
taxpayer-financed student aid.

Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., member of the House Committee on Education and
the Workforce, supports the provision. Spokeswoman Angela Flood said the
question challenges the cultural attitude that drug use is an acceptable
part of college life. "It's not too much to ask to not break the law by
using or selling drugs," she said.

Evans said the application doesn't ask about other kinds of legal offenses.

"The fact that you can commit murder and get financial aid, but if you are
convicted of first-time possession, you are denied -- to me, that sums it
up," he said.