STUDY: DRUG USE CAN HURT COLLEGE FINANCIAL AID

WASHINGTON --- More than 2,300 Iowa students --- and nearly 200,000
students nationwide --- have been denied financial aid since the
2000-2001 school year because of drug convictions, a new study shows.

The study was released by a group called Students for Sensible Drug
Policy, which is working to repeal a federal law that makes college
students ineligible for financial aid if they have been convicted of
selling or possessing illegal drugs.

The law, called the Aid Elimination Penalty, is part of the recently
passed Higher Education Act. Under the law, students who acknowledge
selling or possessing drugs on a federal loan application are
ineligible for aid.

Once a much broader law, the Aid Elimination Penalty was scaled back
in February to apply only to convictions that occur while a student
is receiving financial aid.

But Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a Washington, D.C.-based
group, wants to see the law eliminated.

The group and the ACLU filed a federal class-action lawsuit against
the U.S. Department. of Education last month challenging the
constitutionality of the rule. Three students who lost financial aid
due to misdemeanor drug convictions will represent those affected by the law.

Tom Angell, a top official with Students for Sensible Drug Policy,
said numerous federal studies show that people enrolled in college
have much lower rates of drug use than those with a high school diploma.

"This law causes more drug abuse by blocking access to education," Angell said.

The number of Iowa students declared ineligible for selling or
possessing illegal drugs is above the national average, according to
U.S. Education Department statistics. Approximately one out of every
387 students in Iowa was denied aid due to drug convictions.

Roland Carrillo, University of Northern Iowa's director of admissions
and financial aid, said the penalty has affected a few of the
school's students. But he said the update to the law is positive news
for financial aid applicants.

"Going to school is a way to better your life," Carrillo said. "If
you've had a difficult time in the past and it follows you and you
can't improve it --- I think that's sad."

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, thinks the Aid Elimination Penalty is
unbalanced because students who commit other crimes can still get aid.

"That inequity doesn't meet the common sense test," Grassley said.

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, is ranking member of the Senate subcommittee
that funds educational programs. Maureen Knightly, spokeswoman for
Harkin, said the senator has been listening to concerned groups and
will attempt to address concerns that the Aid Elimination Penalty
only applies to past drug convictions and not other crimes.

The U.S. Education Department statistics don't reveal how many
students were deterred from applying for financial aid by the drug
question or how many applicants lied.

"I think one of the questions to ask is are the actual numbers of
students convicted of drug possession higher in fact, or are Iowa
students more likely to fill out that blank honestly? It's hard to
tell," said Edith Waldstein, vice president for enrollment management
at Wartburg College.

A September 2005 study from the non-partisan Government
Accountability Office was unable to find any evidence that the
provision "actually helped to deter drug use."

Keith Greiner, research director for the Iowa College Aid Commission,
said he doubts the number of students who are now ineligible due to
the penalty would affect financial aid within the state.

"We get far more applications than we are able to give aid for,"
Greiner said. "So it's not likely to change the numbers."

But Angell said the law usurps administrators' decision-making for
when to kick kids out of school.

"College administrators have the discretion to kick kids out, but
this blanket one-size-fits-all policy from Washington usurps that
decision-making process," Angell said.

The University of Iowa chapter of the Students for Sensible Drug
Policy will have a parade on May 6 where they're going to have
speakers and pass literature that they say details injustices against
students. Chapter president Matthew Georges said the group hopes to
increase public awareness of the law.

"We hope to get more people involved in writing the congressmen and
telling them that we don't want this law," Georges said.