ERROR OF JUDGMENT

Barring Aid To Students Is Short-Sighted

The war on drugs is claiming more casualties. As many as 34,000 applicants
for federal student loans, grants and work-study funds stand to lose that
assistance if they have a drug conviction.

A 1998 law aimed to crack the whip even harder against drug abuse.
According to U.S. Rep. Mark Souder of Indiana who sponsored the bill, the
targets of the law were students who were convicted of drug possession or
dealing while on federal student aid.

In application, the law has gone beyond that intention. Federal education
officials are denying aid to applicants with prior convictions. The "three
strikes and out" principle is evident as well. Applicants for federal
financial aid with one conviction are ineligible for a year. The penalty is
two years of ineligibility for two convictions. Those with three or more
convictions are ineligible indefinitely.

The law is unnecessarily punitive. Drug violations already carry severe
legal penalties, with mandatory minimum sentences. The law banning federal
aid unfairly sets students up as a special category against whom additional
punishment can be applied beyond the terms of conviction.

In effect, the students -- most likely young people who want better
education for a better life -- are denied access to higher education, a
proven avenue to a productive adult life, even after they have fulfilled
the terms of their conviction. Students make a serious error of judgment in
getting involved with drugs. The law compounds the error by making it
harder for them to break with the past.

Further, in targeting students seeking financial aid, the law puts the full
burden of its moral indignation on families and students who are not
independently wealthy enough to afford college on their own. That is unfair
treatment.