STUDENTS WANT END TO FINANCIAL AID-DRUG TIES

MADISON, Wis. -- Students on campuses across the nation, including
University of Wisconsin-Madison, are calling for the repeal of a law
limiting convicted drug offenders' access to financial aid.

Their concern with the 1998 law stems not only from the drug offenses it
screens for, but also the crimes for which it does not. With the exception
of failure to register for the draft, no other offenses are questioned or
can prevent a student from receiving aid, including violent crimes such as
rape or murder.

Students can receive financial aid depending on how long it has been since
the drug conviction or after attending a drug rehabilitation center.

Drafted by U.S. Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., the law, according to Souder's
press secretary, Seth Becker, has not been enforced the way it was
originally intended.

"The Clinton administration interpreted the law very badly," he said. "They
read it not as students in the federal aid system but students applying for
aid. It was not supposed to be a reach-back system. It was only supposed to
affect current students."

According to the bill's original intent, if a student was convicted of a
drug offense while receiving financial aid, he or she would become
ineligible for further aid.

Becker said he was hopeful the interpretation would change under the
current administration.

"We have had several meetings with the Bush administration and we think
this will get fixed," he said.

But many students do not want the bill clarified -- they want it repealed.

Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, a national organization that works
against the War on Drugs, is currently working to repeal to the law.

"Our major issue is repealing the Drug Provision of the Higher Education
Act of 1998," said Dan Goldman, UW alumnus and member of the SSDP board of
directors in Washington, D.C. "It discriminates against students from
poorer and working class families who need the financial aid the most."

Local SSDP member and UW-Madison junior Robert Spencer said this law was
also wrong because it punished a person multiple times for the same offense.

"We tend to think of the [justice] system as a punishment system when it
was started as a rehabilitation system," he said. "If [a drug conviction]
is in someone's past it shouldn't matter anymore."

Becker disagreed, saying financial aid is a privilege and not the only
thing revoked because of drug use.

"This is not something that is unique to student aid. People in public
housing have to stay drug free," he said. "There is nothing in the
constitution that says we have to pay for your education -- it is a privilege."

Susan Fischer, UW-Madison associate director of student financial services,
said she saw several problems with the law.

"I have no way of knowing if students have committed other serious crimes,"
she said.

Becker said this reasoning is frequently used to discredit the law.

"It's not that we don't take these crimes seriously, but they were not the
focus of this particular piece of legislation," he said. "Obviously we take
violent crime seriously. Someone who has raped or murdered someone
shouldn't be a student in the first place."

Fischer, however, said she thought with the number of students at
UW-Madison, there was a chance that some had committed violent offenses.

"With such a large population at this school there must be somebody out
there," she said. "Statistically it could happen."

Fischer added there are a number of conditions in the financial aid process
with which UW officials would rather not be dealing.

"We'd rather be getting students their money," she said.

The question concerning a student's history with drug offenses was added to
the FAFSA because of the Drug Provision of the Higher Education Act of 1998.

An amendment to strike the provision, introduced in May 2000 to repeal the
law, was not passed. In February 2001 a similar bill was introduced. It has
55 sponsors.