COLLEGE STUDENTS LOSING FEDERAL AID OVER DRUG RECORDS

WASHINGTON -- Nearly 7,000 college students who applied for financial aid
this fall are finding past drug convictions returning to haunt them.

The students are being told they are ineligible for some or all federal aid
because of a new law. Under the law, which took effect with the 2000-01
academic year, students with drug-related convictions can be ruled
ineligible for federal grants or loans.

Of the 8.6 million applications processed through mid-October, 1,311
applicants have been ruled ineligible, and an additional 5,617 must
complete a waiting period before they become eligible, Karen Freeman, a
spokeswoman for the Education Department, said Monday.

Students can lose one year of federal aid eligibility for a first
conviction on a drug-possession charge and two years for a second
conviction. They can be suspended indefinitely for a third conviction.