43,000 STUDENTS WITH DRUG CONVICTIONS FACE DENIAL OF AID

More than 43,000 college students face possible denials of federal aid this
year under a 1998 law that bans such help to people who have drug convictions.

The main lobbying group for colleges would like the ban repealed, but those
efforts have reached an impasse.

The author of the law, Representative Mark Souder, Republican of Indiana,
says the Bush administration is being tougher on applicants than he
intended, and federal officials have tried to find an administrative action
to ease the ban. "We looked in every nook and cranny," a spokeswoman for
the Education Department, Lindsey Kozberg, said.

Mr. Souder said he wanted the ban to apply solely to students already
receiving federal aid when convicted. His staff has repeatedly met with
Education Department officials this year to try to bring enforcement more
in line with what Mr. Souder says Congress intended.

But this month, the department told the congressman that it could not
change and that such a move would require Congressional action.

Mr. Souder accused the administration of a "simply shocking" defiance of
Congress and threatened to hold hearings. Ms. Kozberg said the department
was ready to help him draw up a change that Congress could act on.

Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, has already
introduced legislation to repeal the ban.

The ban involves a small fraction of the more than 10 million people a year
who fill out applications for federal grants, work-study funds or
subsidized loans. Question 35 asks, "Have you ever been convicted of
possessing or selling illegal drugs?" Those who answer yes are given a
second work sheet that asks for details.

For a first drug offense, ineligibility lasts a year after conviction, and
for a second offense, two years. More convictions bar aid indefinitely.

A single conviction for a drug sale means no aid for two years. For
additional convictions, the ban lasts indefinitely.

Those facing an indefinite loss of aid can have that reversed by undergoing
drug rehabilitation.

Of 9.8 million applicants for aid for the 2001-2002 school year, 43,436
were rejected for all or part of the year or risked automatic denial for
not answering Question 35.

The American Council on Education, which represents major colleges and
universities, called the restriction "double punishment" and said it
discriminated against poorer people, because more affluent students did not
need financial aid.

"Far more serious crimes do not carry the automatic denial of student aid,"
a senior vice president of the council, Terry Hartle, said.