CURBING COLLEGE AID

Beginning this fall, students convicted of selling or possessing
illegal drugs can be denied college grants, loans and work assistance.

Possession can cost a year of federal aid, selling at least two years.
Offenders can become eligible for aid, however, if they complete
rehabilitation and pass two random drug tests.

There are two major problems with the 1998 law. One is that it doesn't
specify what constitutes rehabilitation. The second is the status of
students who apply for financial aid but lie or leave the question
about drug convictions blank.

There are plenty who don't answer the drug query -- at least 200,000
students according to the latest count, roughly 13 percent of all
applicants. No one hazards a guess about the liar population but so
far less than 1 percent of aid applicants has admitted a drug conviction.

Since the law was passed, colleges and federal officials have puzzled
over what to do about the evaders and the fibbers. For now, the U.S.
Department of Education has told colleges not to hold up applications
that leave the drug question blank.

A department spokesman insisted many students probably didn't answer
because they were confused by the question. The same official naivete
is expressed by directors of financial aid, worried, no doubt, about a
drop in enrollment.

In addition, the education department has informed schools that it
does not intend to check the honesty of students who claim no drug
convictions.

All of this leaves Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., unhappy. He was a strong
supporter of the drug restriction and he wants it enforced. He is
among those who feel drug peddlers and users aren't entitled to
tax-subsidized loans or grants.

That attitude is widely shared but it doesn't cure the problem of
enforcement. Schools and federal officials are in no position to
investigate or confirm the drug record of student aid applicants. For
one thing, there is no national database of drug offenders they can
consult. Also, state and local laws and policies vary greatly.

Denying aid to the 1 percent who admit a conviction is hardly fair,
given the fact that more than 85 percent of college students surveyed
say they have cheated on assignments and exams. Sadly, such ethical
lapses are not confined to campuses.

Congress gave little consideration to how the drug restriction would
be implemented. They passed another of those well-meaning laws that
make people feel good but don't have the clarity or the muscle to
correct anything. For all intents and purposes, the Department of
Education has chosen to ignore the law. Maybe that's what everybody
else should do.