STUDENTS SKIP DRUG QUESTION ON FEDERAL FORM

WASHINGTON - More than 100,000 applicants for federal college aid in the
coming school year didn't answer a question about whether they recently
have been convicted of drug crimes.

Few of the students were tying to hide a conviction, federal and college
officials said Wednesday. Instead, most of the one-fifth of the first
500,000 applicants who left the answer blank on their aid applications were
confused, they said.

So many skipped the new question that the Education Department has decided
to let colleges promise federal grants or loans to students who didn't
answer it.

Otherwise, the steady flow of billions of dollars in student aid that will
eventually go mostly to colleges and universities could have been imperiled.

Among those who did answer the question, less than 1 percent admitted to a
recent conviction for possessing or selling illegal drugs, Education
Department officials said.

A total of 104 questions must be answered on the four-page Free Application
for Federal Student Aid, -which is filled out each year by more than 8.5
million applicants for $50 billion in federal grants and loans.

The question(#28) asks:

"28. If you have never been convicted of any drug offense, enter '1' in the
box and go to question 29. A drug-related conviction does not necessarily
make you ineligible for aid; call 1-800-433-3243 or go to
http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/q28 to find out how to fill out this question."

Calling the toll-free number leads to a voicemail menu that is supposed to
help the applicant decide whether to write "1," "2" or "394 in the box. At
the Web site, applicants can download a work sheet or answer a number of
questions online.

"The question and the work sheet worked well when we pilot-tested it with
different groups of students," said Greg Woods, chief operating officer of
the Education Department's Office of Student Financial Assistance Programs.

"But in the context of the entire form, it was apparently confusing," Woods
said.

He said a phone survey of 1,500 applicants who skipped, the question
produced such excuses as, "The item talked about drugs, and I figured it
didn't apply to me," or "it mentioned a work sheet and I went on to the
next question, and forgot to go back to it."

After July 1, a student cannot receive federal financial aid within one
year of a first conviction for possessing illegal drugs or two years of a
first conviction for selling them.