DRUGS TRIGGER WITHDRAWAL OF STUDENT FINANCIAL AID

Convictions Make People Ineligible; Even Law's Author Hopes To Change It

The millions of college students heading to campus this fall might not
include an estimated 28,230 who were denied federal financial aid because
they have admitted to a recent drug conviction.

This is the second school year that federal student aid has been contingent
on a clean drug record, but it's the first time aid is being denied to
applicants who leave the drug-conviction question blank on their aid
applications. That could keep 11,417 more students from getting assistance.

Students who lie have little chance of being caught, however, because there
is no national database of state and local drug convictions that the
Department of Education can use to check on them.

The law has drawn protests from students and financial-aid officers who say
it hurts poor and minority students disproportionately because they are
more likely to have a conviction and less likely to have the independent
means to forgo financial aid. For example, although blacks make up 17% of
drug users, they represent 37% of those arrested for drug crimes, the
Department of Health and Human Services reports.

Even the law's author, Indiana Republican Rep. Mark Souder, is unhappy with
the results.

The way the Education Department has interpreted the law, a student
convicted of possessing illegal drugs can't get aid for a year after the
conviction, although the student can regain eligibility sooner by
completing a drug-treatment program. The penalty for a second possession
conviction or for a first conviction for selling drugs is a 2-year ban on aid.

Souder says he meant for the ban to kick in only if a student committed a
drug crime while receiving aid. He tried unsuccessfully to pass legislation
last year to make that change. He says he has been meeting with Education
Department officials this year to find an administrative solution.

"We are close to getting this worked out," says Seth Becker, a spokesman
for Souder. Education Department spokeswoman Lindsey Kozberg says the
department is still evaluating its options.

Nothing but an all-out repeal will satisfy the law's critics, who include
many financial-aid officers.

More than 9,600 of last year's applicants were denied aid for at least part
of the year, depending on when their ineligibility period ended. This
year's figure could be four times that.

When Russell Selkirk of Columbus, Ohio, saw the question on the student-aid
form last year, he knew he was sunk. After his first quarter at Ohio State
University, Selkirk, who is now a junior, was caught smoking marijuana
outside a bar. "I got to that question, and I was like, 'Wow, I guess that
seals the deal right there,' " he says.

He says he briefly considered lying about the misdemeanor conviction
because he didn't think it was relevant to whether he should receive aid.
But with his mother sitting beside him, Selkirk filled out the form
truthfully and wasn't surprised when his request for a low-interest loan
was rejected.

"I definitely feel it's very unfair," he says. "I know walking around on
this campus there have been people convicted of crimes far worse than
choosing to partake in a little marijuana smoking."

A drug conviction is the only crime that will make a student ineligible for
aid.

Selkirk was able to get help from his parents for tuition. Kris Sperry of
Mountain Home, Ark., wasn't as fortunate.

The 23-year-old father of three had to drop out of Arkansas State
University when his aid request was rejected because of two convictions for
possessing marijuana.

"I'm trying to better myself and get my children a future," he says. "I'm
an intelligent person. I think I deserve an education. It's not like I was
out smoking crack or using heroin."

The issue has inspired a nationwide student lobbying campaign. Former
George Washington University student Shawn Heller was helping organize
Students for Sensible Drug Policy to try to change the nation's approach to
the drug war when Congress passed Souder's student-aid restriction.

"It sort of blew us away," Heller says. "It has been the driving force in
creating the largest anti-war movement since Vietnam."

Today, the group has 156 local chapters and has gotten 66 student
governments, the U.S. Student Association and the Association of Big Ten
Schools to pass resolutions calling for the ban's repeal. The group has
held a national drug war conference, created scholarships for students who
were refused aid and lobbied Congress.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who is pushing to overturn the ban, says he has
never seen an issue that has generated more action by students. "They see
the unfairness of this," Frank says. "The fact that it singles out drugs.
The fact that by definition it only hits low-income people."

Student groups aren't the only ones complaining. Financial-aid directors
have told Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., who is reviewing financial-aid
programs, that putting them in charge of monitoring student activities that
have nothing to do with financial need detracts from their primary mission:
helping students get an education.