Convicted of Drug Crimes, 7,000 U.S. Students Forfeit All or Part of Their Aid By JENNIFER YACHNIN
Washington
Almost 7,000 of the 9 million students who applied for federal aid for this fall are ineligible for some or all of their financial aid because of their recent convictions of drug-related offenses, according to the Education Department.
Aides to Representative Mark E. Souder, the Indiana Republican who drafted the legislation barring aid to students with drug convictions, said the lawmaker was surprised the number was so low. But Education Department officials said the statistics matched their expectations.
"Justice Department figures tell us that roughly 1 percent of the U.S. population have a drug conviction, so it would follow roughly that 1 percent of the people who apply for aid would have a drug conviction to report," said Karen Freeman, a spokeswoman for the department's Office of Student Financial Assistance.
The 2000-1 academic year is the first in which students with drug-related convictions could become ineligible for federal aid.
Approximately 10 million students apply for federal aid each year, and as of October 15, the Education Department had processed about 8.6 million applications.
Department statistics show that, under the drug-conviction provision, 1,311 applicants have been ruled ineligible for aid, and an additional 5,617 applicants must complete a waiting period before they become eligible.
Applicants can lose all or some of their federal aid, depending on the date of conviction. The period during which the aid may be suspended begins on the date of conviction.
Under the law, students may suffer one year of aid-eligibility suspension for a first conviction of a drug-possession charge; two years for a second conviction; and indefinite suspension for a third conviction. However, a student can regain eligibility by completing a drug-rehabilitation program or by winning a reversal of the conviction or having it set aside.
Despite being pressured by the Education Department to respond, nearly 275,000 applicants have yet to answer whether they have ever been convicted of a drug offense.
Initially, more than 790,000 applicants failed to answer the question. Department officials allowed financial-aid administrators to award aid this year to those who left the question blank, but warned those students to alert the department of any drug convictions or risk penalties for lying on their forms. Beginning next year students will be required to answer the question to qualify for federal aid.
"We determined early on that many people who don't answer the question feel it doesn't pertain to them, or don't understand the question or forget to answer it," Ms. Freeman said.
Congress imposed the drug-conviction restriction when it renewed the Higher Education Act in 1998. The provision denies aid to students who have recently been convicted in state or federal court of possessing or selling illicit drugs.