EDUCATION DEPARTMENT DECLINES TO EASE BAN ON STUDENT AID FOR PEOPLE
CONVICTED ON DRUG CHARGES

The U.S. Education Department is no longer considering softening a ban
on student aid for those convicted of possessing or selling illegal
drugs.

Department officials say they do not believe they have the legal
authority to rewrite the agency's regulations to apply the ban only to
those convicted of drug violations while in college, as opposed to
those convicted before enrolling. They have concluded that Congress
would have to amend the Higher Education Act, the law that governs the
federal student-aid programs, to make such a change.

Speaking at a public meeting held by the department on Friday, Jeffrey
Andrade, a higher-education adviser at the department, said that the
agency's lawyers had "looked at this issue nine ways to Sunday" but
ultimately concluded that the Higher Education Act does not give the
department "the flexibility to address this in our
regulations."

The department's decision drew a strong rebuke from Rep. Mark Souder,
the Indiana Republican who wrote the original drug provision. Mr.
Souder has had several meetings with department officials this year,
urging them to direct the provision only at students who have bought
drugs while receiving federal aid. Department officials met with Mr.
Souder on Wednesday to inform him of their decision.

After the meeting, Mr. Souder said that he could not understand why
department officials were "unwilling to correct an erroneous
regulation that is keeping otherwise deserving applicants from
receiving federal funds to attend institutes of higher education."

In 1998, Congress included Mr. Souder's provision when it revised the
Higher Education Act. Since the provision went into effect in 2000,
the department has interpreted it to apply to all convictions of
possessing or selling drugs, including any convictions as an adult in
the years preceding a student's application for federal aid. In the
2000-1 academic year, more than 9,000 students were found to be
ineligible for financial aid for at least part of the year under the
provision.

This year, according to department officials, 14,249 of the 9.8
million students who have applied for aid have lost some or all of
their aid because of the provision, depending on when the conviction
took place. Depending on how they reply on a follow-up form, an
additional 29,000 applicants are in danger of losing their aid because
they have either failed to respond to the drug question on their
application or have acknowledged a prior drug conviction. Department
officials expect that many of these applicants could have their
eligibility for aid restored.

Many student, university, and drug-law-reform groups have criticized
the provision as unfair and unwarranted. Critics say the law has
denied aid to many people who have given up drugs and are trying to
turn their lives around. Others say the law's penalties would hit a
disproportionate number of minority students and students from
low-income families.

But Mr. Souder maintains that the Education Department has always
misinterpreted the provision's intent. He says it was meant to apply
only to students while they were in college.

Late Wednesday, Mr. Souder said that if the Bush administration does
not reverse its position, he would bring department officials before a
subcommittee of the House of Representatives Committee on Government
Reform that he leads "so that members of Congress can directly ask
administration official why they have chosen to deny federal aid to
prospective higher education students in clear defiance of the express
intent of Congress."