HOUSE BILL TO REPEAL DRUG OFFENSE PROVISION

Students with minor drug violations would be allowed to continue receiving
federal aid under a proposed U.S. House of Representatives bill which would
repeal the 1998 Higher Education Act Drug Provision.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., introduced the repeal bill Feb. 11 to the U.S.
House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce.

A student convicted of selling or possessing drugs is not eligible for
federal loans and grants under the current drug provision, which became
effective in 2000.

One MU student has been denied financial aid this academic year because of
the drug provision, MU spokesman Christian Basi said.

Basi said students would not necessarily be affected immediately if the
bill passed.

"It will depend upon the language of the bill as to when students will be
affected by it," Basi said.

Peter Kovar, Frank's chief of staff, said Frank thinks the Higher Education
Act's drug provision potentially discourages lower income students from
returning to college after being denied aid due to a drug conviction.

For the first drug possession offense, ineligibility for financial aid
lasts one year; for the second offense, ineligibility lasts for two years;
and for the third offense, the student is ineligible for an indefinite time
period.

If convicted of selling drugs, the first offense makes the offender
ineligible for financial aid for two years, and the second offense for an
indefinite period of time.

Kovar also said most people were not aware of the drug provision when it
was first introduced. Frank began trying to repeal the provision after the
bill took effect, he said.

"There aren't any other crimes which we're aware of which cause an
automatic bar to financial ability for financial aid," Kovar said.

Frank is against giving loans and grants to students who commit major drug
crimes and commit them repeatedly, Kovar said. But for minor drug
offenders, he said, "(Frank) just doesn't think it makes any sense for them
to be barred."

Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., is against Frank's bill to repeal the drug
provision, spokesman Seth Becker said. The congressman co-sponsored the
drug provision when the Higher Education Act was passed in the House.

"It was passed without a whole lot of controversy," Becker said.

The majority of Congress believed that if students receive federal money,
they should follow federal laws, including drug laws, Becker said.

But Congress has had some problems in the way the law has been enforced.
Students convicted of selling or possessing drugs before the bill took
effect and students convicted before they entered college haven't received
financial aid, Becker said.

"We don't think those students should be denied aid," Becker said. "On one
hand, the enforcement is more strict than intended. On the other hand,
there are people who say it shouldn't be enforced at all. It should be
enforced as it was intended in '98."