A HIGH PRICE TO PAY

Students Lose Their Financial Aid If They Are Convicted of Drug Possession.

Like many college students, Richard Boadu, marketing senior, has experimented with drugs.  Last summer, Boadu smoked marijuana for the first time since junior high school, but at the time, he didn't know that it could cost him his education.

As a current student, Boadu could not afford tuition at OU without the help of Pell Grants, which unlike loans, do not have to be repaid.  Boadu was unaware at the time that if police had caught him in possession of marijuana, he could have lost his federal financial aid for one year or more.

More than 150,000 students nation-wide have been rejected on the basis of drug convictions by the federal government's financial aid program since 2000, said Brian Dolber, outreach coordinator for the Washington D.C.-based lobbying group Coalition for Higher Education Act Reform.

"If you rape or murder someone you can still receive financial aid but not if you are caught with marijuana," Dolber said.

Congress was expected to review the Higher Education Act in its last session, revising the laws that provide aid like Pell Grants and Perkins Loans to more than a million American students, Dolber said.  Congress is considering changing the drug provision in the HEA.

According to an Oct.  9 article in The Boston Herald, a bill amending the drug provision that denies aid to applicants with drug convictions was pushed off the Senate Judiciary Committee's agenda before Congress adjourned from its 108th session Oct.  8.

Dolber said CHEAR is working to get the bill overturning the drug provision approved by Congress.  Dolber said the bill may be considered when Congress returns for its last session of the year after the Nov.  2 general election.

The bill, which contains language limiting the denial of student aid to students who were caught with drugs while they were receiving aid, would also renew the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Dolber said.

The purpose of ONDCP is to establish policies, priorities and objectives for the nation's drug control program, which seek to reduce illicit drug use, manufacturing, trafficking, drug-related crime and violence and drug-related health consequences, according to the ONDCP Web site.

CHEAR has added an amendment to the bill that would overturn the drug provision, making all federal aid applicants with prior drug convictions eligible to receive aid.

"We don't think [reforming the drug provision] is good enough," Dolber said.

All people are entitled to an education, he said.

A provision that denies federal financial aid to applicants with drug-related convictions was added to the Higher Education Act in 1998, said Pam McConahay, director of Compliance, Training and Lender Relations at OU.

The provision was intended to take away grants and student loans from students who were using or selling drugs while in school.  However, the language of the law is unclear and it has been used to keep students with past drug convictions from receiving aid, McConahay said.

"There was confusion over who actually fell under the drug question," said Bradley Burnett, director of Financial Aid Services.

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid contains a question that asks applicants if they have ever been convicted of selling or possessing illegal drugs, Burnett said.  There are no questions to determine if the applicant was convicted while in college or before.

"It's basically a yes or no question," Burnett said.

If an applicant answers "yes," he or she receives a worksheet with more questions in the mail.

How long aid is withheld depends on whether the applicant was convicted of possessing or selling illegal drugs and how many offenses he or she has, Burnett said.  Aid can be denied for one to two years for a first offense.

Burnett said he did not know of any OU students who have been affected by the drug provision but acknowledges that there is no national database to track drug convictions.

Jessica Hanan, zoology senior, said she can see both sides of the issue.

"I don't think someone who got caught smoking pot shouldn't be able to go to school," Hanan said.  "But on the other hand, they don't want people getting financial aid who will be more interested in other things than going to school."