DRUG OFFENSES COST INDIANA STUDENTS COLLEGE AID

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana leads the nation in the rate of college
students being denied federal aid because of a law that bars those
with drug convictions from receiving tuition assistance, a study
published Monday showed.

Since 2000, more than 8,900 Indiana students have lost their
eligibility for federal financial aid because of drug offenses,
according to an analysis by the advocacy group Students for Sensible
Drug Policy.

That amounts to one out of every two hundred Indiana students who
applied for aid.

Nationwide, about 190,000 students lost their financial aid
eligibility, the federal data show.

Indiana Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Souder introduced the drug
prohibition, which passed Congress in 1998.

"College students are adult enough to know that there are certain
responsibilities that come with receiving funds from the American
taxpayer," Souder said Monday in a statement. "The principle behind
drug-free student loans is accountability, so as to help ensure that
taxpayer funds are not wasted."

Students were first required to answer whether they had been
convicted for possessing or selling drugs during the 2000-01 school
year. The law was modified this year to only affect drug convictions
that occur while students are attending college.

Critics say the law amounts to double jeopardy because it penalizes
students twice for the same crime. Others say it unfairly affects
poor students who depend on the financial assistance to attend college.

"There are scores of people around the country who commit any number
of nondrug offenses, and the government doesn't stand in the way of
their educations," said Adam Wolf, a lawyer representing a Ball State
University student who is suing the federal government after she lost
her financial aid for a year when police found marijuana in her car.

"The law doesn't deter drug use," he told The Indianapolis Star for a
Monday story. "It deters an education."

First-time offenders lose their financial aid eligibility for a
limited time. Those with multiple offenses can lose the assistance
indefinitely.

IUPUI student Tonisha Mauldin worried she would have to drop out of
school after police found marijuana in her apartment.

The 19-year-old Muncie resident was spared a conviction in exchange
for two years of probation and community service. While she
acknowledges that students who are found with drugs should be
punished, Mauldin said the law is too harsh.

"I really don't think it's fair," Mauldin said. "(It) has to do with
the rest of our lives."