DRUG CONVICTION SHOULDN'T BLOCK COLLEGE AID

Over the past seven years, more than 160,000 would-be college students
have encountered a fortified wall that blocks them from receiving
financial aid for higher education. As President Ronald Reagan once
urged in Berlin, we urge legislators to help us ''to tear down this
wall'' and make financial aid available to everyone who needs it. We
urge Sen. Dick Durbin to take the lead in this process.

The barrier stems from a little-known 1998 amendment to the Higher
Education Act that suspends financial aid eligibility to students with
any drug convictions, including possession of marijuana. While the
drug provision was apparently intended to discourage drug abuse, it
doesn't appear to have worked. Since the law was enacted, use of
narcotics, like Oxycontin, among college students doubled. Crack use
has increased. Cocaine use has increased. Ecstasy use has increased.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons reports that receiving at least two
years of higher education reduces the likelihood of repeat offenses
from a national rate of 60 percent to only 10 percent. It is
counterproductive to throw at-risk young people out of school where
they will be much more likely to break the law again and continue to
drain law-enforcement resources.

There are numerous other problems with the law. For example, students
affected by the drug provision have already been punished through the
criminal justice system. Universities also generally discipline or
expel students who break campus drug policies. Why should students be
punished three times -- by the courts, by their schools and the
Department of Education -- for the same offense?

There is no policy that makes individuals with drug convictions
ineligible for the armed services. Why are our soldiers held to a
lesser standard than our college students?

And, because of racial profiling and the discriminatory enforcement of
drug laws, minorities are being kept out of school at a higher rate
because of this drug provision. In Illinois, 90 percent of
ex-offenders in Chicago are African American; more than 50 percent
were incarcerated for drug violations, and an African-American male is
more than 57 times more likely to be sent to prison on drug charges
than a white male. Do we want to ensure that ex-offenders never have
another chance at gaining access to education simply because they
violated a drug law?

In January, the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance
recommended that Congress remove the drug question from the financial
aid application, calling it ''irrelevant'' to eligibility.

To that end, the Removing Impediments to Students' Education Act was
introduced in the House and now has 56 co-sponsors. The RISE Act would
reinstate financial aid to students trying to turn their lives around.

By introducing a version of the bill in the Senate, Durbin could help
students rise above their past legal troubles and put their lives back
on track.

Financial aid allows students with fewer resources to compete
alongside those with many. The Higher Education Act drug provision
affects only those students who depend on financial aid: the middle
class, the poor, those who are looking for an opportunity to make a
better life through education.

Durbin should introduce the RISE Act in the Senate.

Jennifer Janichek, president, Students for Sensible Drug Policy

Roosevelt University chapter