STATE MAY 'JUST SAY NO' TO FINANCIAL AID

Students who sell drugs may be denied

Madison - Wisconsin university students convicted of selling or possessing
drugs would be barred from receiving state financial aid and academic
scholarships under a bill introduced in a state Senate committee on
Wednesday.

"Drugs are destroying our society. Drugs are destroying our families. Drugs
are destroying the lives of citizens," state Sen. Joe Leibham (R-Sheboygan)
told the Senate Committee on Higher Education and Tourism. "We need to take
a stand against drugs."

The same bill was introduced in the committee last session, after winning
overwhelming approval in the Assembly. But it stalled.

Committee members say they agree with the sponsors' goals of discouraging
drug use and ensuring that financial aid goes to law-abiding students.

But they also share concerns raised by administrators of state financial
aid.

The administrators have argued - and argued again on Wednesday - that they
don't have the tools to check which students have been convicted of drug
crimes.

"To do this bill correctly is beyond our ability," said Connie Hutchison,
executive secretary of Wisconsin's Higher Education Aids Board.

Making enforcement more difficult, the administrators argue, is the fact
that the Senate bill is a more sweeping version of a 1998 federal law that
prohibits students convicted of selling drugs from receiving federal
financial aid.

The federal law, which has led to 50 Wisconsin students being denied federal
assistance, is up for reauthorization, and is likely to be changed. Even
some of its authors agree that it has flaws, including the fact that
students self-report their convictions, which has meant that only the honest
ones are denied aid.

As the state administrators see it, the Legislature should hold off passing
a state version until the federal law is reauthorized and reformed, which
may not happen until next year.

When that happens, they say, the state should make sure that its law is in
line with the federal version.

"The bill has laudable goals," said Sen. Sheila Harsdorf (R-River Falls),
chairwoman of the higher education committee. "It's the details we want
sorted out."

Leibham said he would work with administrators of state financial aid to do
just that.

But he said the bill should pass even if it is unable to avoid the
self-reporting system that allows dishonest students to receive aid.

"This is worth doing even if it doesn't catch all the students," Leibham
said.

Leibham's bill, which has five-co sponsors in the Senate, and a proposed
bill in the Assembly, which tentatively has 25 sponsors, are broader than
the federal law because they would bar financial aid and academic
scholarships not just to students convicted of selling drugs but also to
those convicted of possessing drugs with the intent to manufacture,
distribute or deliver them.

Students would be ineligible for assistance for two years after their first
conviction and forever after their second unless they successfully underwent
drug rehabilitation.

The United Council of UW Students said Wednesday that it opposed such a
policy on the ground that it would punish students who are struggling to
better their lives through education.

David Glisch-Sanchez, the council's director of academic affairs, said
students shouldn't be punished for the same crime twice.