DRUG CONVICTION RULE UNFAIR TO STUDENTS

Our position is: Congress should not penalize a student's first drug-use
conviction by denying federal financial aid.

Count on young people to sometimes do stupid things. Yet one bad choice
shouldn't keep them from attending college.

But that's been the unfortunate result of a provision in the Higher
Education Act that denies federal college aid to applicants who have been
convicted of a drug offense. Since the rule took effect in 2000, it has
disqualified more than 160,000 students from receiving federal grants,
loans or work assistance. The number is higher when you factor in those who
skipped the drug question on financial aid forms, which automatically makes
them ineligible for aid.

The law says students who have been convicted of possessing drugs can't get
federal financial assistance for a year. They can be reinstated sooner if
they successfully complete drug rehabilitation and pass two random drug
tests. A second drug conviction costs them two years of eligibility, and a
third nixes their chances for college aid indefinitely. Dealing drugs
carries more significant sanctions: a two-year ban on federal scholarship
assistance on the first conviction and indefinitely for the second.

While punishing drug users and dealers is a desirable goal, denying
financial aid to students with a single drug conviction goes too far. To
fix the problem, Congress should modify HR 1184 to eliminate the penalty
for a first-time drug-possession conviction. The bill currently would drop
the drug question from forms altogether. It is co-sponsored by at least 56
members of the House and has won support from the National Education
Association and the American Council on Education.

At the least, Congress should pass a proposal offered by Rep. Mark Souder,
R-Ind., which exempts a drug conviction that occurred before college.