DOE LIMITS FINANCIAL AID

To the dismay of many student governments, civil liberties and minority
organizations, the "War on Drugs" now more directly affects thousands of
college applicants.

In order to prevent financial aid applicants from purposely avoiding a
question about prior drug convictions, the U.S. Department of Education
decided earlier this month to make it mandatory that applicants indicate
any past drug crimes.

Under the Drug-Free Student Loans Act, a provision of the 1998 Higher
Education Act, an applicant that admits to a past conviction of a drug law
on question 35 of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid may lose
eligibility for financial assistance.

One drug conviction leads to a one-year suspension, a second conviction
brings two years and the third could lead to indefinite inability to
receive financial aid, according to this policy introduced by Rep. Mark
Souder (R-Ind.) and signed into law by then President Bill Clinton.

"By temporarily suspending federal financial aid for students convicted of
drug crimes, the law sends a clear message — actions have consequences, and
using or selling drugs will ruin your future," Souder said last year.
"Federally subsidized student aid is a privilege, not a right."

UNLV Director of Financial Aid Judy Belanger explained Friday the reasoning
behind requiring a response to the question.

"On the national level, twenty percent of students last year left the
question blank," she said. "This year, with the change, it's less than one
percent."

Belanger noted that UNLV distributes approximately $65 million in aid.

"About half of UNLV students receive something, either a scholarship, grant
or loan," she said.

She does not think that the question has had much of an impact on students
because it appears that that the federal government is not actually
checking for truthfulness.

"It's not affecting things, you kind of wonder why the question is there,"
she said. "I guess it's for political issues."

Of 8.6 million financial aid applicants, 12,600 were rejected assistance
last year due, in some part, to the new law, Belanger said. She added that
those applicants simply conveyed honesty.

David Borden, founder of the drug reform coordination network in Washington
D.C., said that this type of punishment is unnecessary.

"It is not appropriate to punish students a second time," he said Friday.
"This is a second punishment that only applies to the very people who are
trying to better their life."

Borden also points to a more than four to one disparity rate between
African Americans convicted of drug offenses and those using drugs. He said
that African Americans comprise 55 percent of the drug convictions in this
country, yet make up just 13 percent of the total drug users.

"Racial profiling is all over the news. Our criminal justice system is not
blind," he said. "It's very real."

Other activist organizations — Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, certain
chapters of the NAACP and other civil liberties groups — have joined
efforts to spearhead a repeal of the act.

Adam Eidinger, who works with coalitions for higher education reform in the
nation's capital, points at murderers, rapists and larcenists, who remain
eligible for financial assistance.

"It is inherently unfair to pick on just drug crimes," he said, adding that
it is very common for a financially underprivileged person to plead guilty
to a drug offense just to avoid jail time.

Eidinger concluded that the act purposely targets the poor, those that need
the aid the most.

A bill, sponsored by Sen. Barney Frank (D-Mass), that would reverse the act
is predicted to return to Congress early next year, Borden said.

"We're hoping by then to have significant forces mobilized in key
congressional districts," Borden said.

Student governments on 53 college campuses, including Yale University,
Columbia University, UC Berkeley and Dartmouth College, have also expressed
opposition to the provision, but the UNLV student government seems quiet on
the issue.

"Now that the matter has been brought to my attention, I will pose this
question to the Senate," Student Body President Paul Moradkhan said Friday.
"I personally believe the matter needs to be reviewed."

Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass. has gone a step further by setting up a
$12,000 fund that the school will use to make loans to students denied aid.

According to federal government estimates, 27 percent of all American's
aged 18 to 25 have used illegal drugs in the past year, meaning millions of
students potentially stand to be affected by this law.

Only six students were arrested at UNLV for drug violations in 2000,
according to the annual campus safety and security report.

The policy stipulates that an affected applicant may resume eligibility
before the end of the ineligibility period if he/she completes a legitimate
drug rehabilitation program.