COLLEGE FINANCIAL AID RULE ATTACKED

Groups Want To Alter Ban Against Students Guilty Of Drug Offenses

A growing number of student, education and civil rights groups are calling
on the Department of Education to modify its enforcement of a law that
denies college financial aid to students with drug convictions.

The department has denied financial aid to more than 21,000 students with
felony and misdemeanor drug convictions in the two years since it began
enforcing the provision. The number of students denied aid, and the
countless others who have not applied for fear of being rejected, has also
stirred the concern of the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration and
the law's author, Rep. Mark Edward Souder (R-Ind.).

"This is absolutely, 100 percent not what Congressman Souder intended,"
said Seth Becker, Souder's spokesman.

Souder wanted the ban to apply only to students already receiving financial
aid when convicted, Becker said. But Department of Education officials say
the law, as written, covers anyone with a drug conviction. Legislative
efforts by Souder to clarify the wording have failed in Congress.

The 1998 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act bars students from
receiving financial aid for one year after a drug possession conviction or
for two years after being convicted of selling drugs. Students convicted
three times for possession or twice for selling drugs are barred from ever
receiving financial aid.

No other crime carries a similar penalty.

"If you commit rape, murder, arson or treason you still get your financial
aid," said Shawn Heller, national director of Students for a Sensible Drug
Policy, which has been vocal in its opposition to the law and others it
views as overly punitive. "But if you have one small drug conviction, your
aid is denied."

The drug policy group is hosting a national meeting that begins today at
George Washington University. The organization is planning a week of
protests this month on more than 100 campuses, an effort designed to
pressure university presidents to endorse the repeal of the drug provision.

The NAACP, the National Association of Independent Colleges and
Universities and the American Council on Education are among groups that
already have called for modifying enforcement of the law. DEA Administrator
Asa Hutchinson also has criticized the law.

"If someone made some mistakes, paid their penalty and has done their
rehabilitation, they should not be denied financial aid," said Hutchinson,
who said assistance should be cut off only for students convicted of drug
offenses while receiving federal aid.

Department of Education spokeswoman Lindsey Kozberg said the agency is
working to soften the law's impact. The department has changed the wording
of the financial aid form filled out by millions of students to make clear
that they may still be eligible for aid, depending on when a drug
conviction occurred..

The form also notes that other sources of aid, including money from states
or private groups, are not affected by the law, even if federal forms are
used in making aid decisions.

This year, federal officials have processed more than 9 million financial
aid applications on which 90,000 students have acknowledged drug
convictions. Of that number, 12,700 were denied financial aid for at least
part of the academic year. Another 36,500 students initially left the
question about drug convictions blank, putting their aid eligibility in
jeopardy.

But officials have subsequently been able to obtain answers from all but
9,600 applicants. They expressed confidence that the vast majority of those
students will eventually complete their financial aid applications.

But other students said they simply avoid applying for aid, knowing that
they will be denied.

Facing felony charges after being arrested in possession of marijuana and
Valium with three friends in a California hotel room, Jamil Scarberry was
sentenced in February to 160 days in jail, a term that was suspended on one
condition: that the University of Washington dropout return to school.

The sentence confronted Scarberry with a dilemma. He already owed his
parents $13,000 for the lawyer who managed to keep him out of jail. But
going back to his old school would be virtually impossible because he was
ineligible for the federal aid he needed to cover his tuition.

"This is ridiculous," said Scarberry, who scraped together enough money to
enroll part time at Seattle Central Community College. "It seems to me that
anyone who wants to change his life by going to school ought to be given
the opportunity."