March 29, 2004, NPR News, All Things Considered

Analysis: Push to change a law that denies federal student aid to students convicted of drug offenses

MELISSA BLOCK, host: Efforts are under way in Congress to amend the law that's designed to discourage drug abuse by college students. The law denies federal financial aid to any student who's been convicted of illegal drug use. But critics of the law, and even some of its original supporters, say it can penalize students who are trying to overcome past mistakes. NPR's Anthony Brooks reports.

ANTHONY BROOKS reporting:

Twenty-two-year-old Laura Melendez spent many of her teen-age years homeless on the streets in the Bronx, New York, where she was busted and convicted several times for marijuana possession. Eventually, though, without family support or money, Melendez earned a GED, applied to college and, this winter, Hampshire College in Massachusetts accepted her. She hopes to enroll next fall. But she's learned that because of her past drug convictions, she doesn't qualify for federal aid, which is threatening her hopes for a college education.

Ms. LAURA MELENDEZ (College Applicant): I have no money in a bank account. I have no money saved. And if I can't come up with that money, I'm basically in big trouble. Like, I'm not going to be able to complete it.

BROOKS: Melendez was snared by a controversial rule of the Higher Education Act, the federal program that channels federal aid to low-income students. In 1998, Congress amended it to deny federal aid to students like Laura Melendez, who've been convicted of even minor drug offenses.

Ms. MELENDEZ: Everybody deserves an education no matter where they came from or what they've done.

BROOKS: Just about everybody, it seems, agrees with that, up to a point. Even the congressman who wrote the rules, Indiana Republican Mark Souder, agrees. Souder says his intent was never to deny aid because of past convictions.

Representative MARK SOUDER (Republican, Indiana): Nobody would favor a reach-back provision. For example, I am an evangelical Christian. I believe people change. And then when they change, we want to encourage them to go to school. But it is clear, absolutely clear, from the debate around it that was not the intent of Congress.

BROOKS: Education officials have interpreted the law more harshly because they say that's the way Congress wrote it. Lawmakers have agreed to clarify the confusion. In the proposed reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, only students who violate drug laws while in college would lose their aid. But Congressman Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, says the entire rule should be scrapped because it punishes minor drug offenses more severely than serious crimes.

Representative BARNEY FRANK (Democrat, Massachusetts): I think it's counterproductive to treat drug abuse, smoking marijuana, as if it's worse than armed robbery, worse than arson, worse than aggravated assault, because you lose credibility with the population you're dealing with.

BROOKS: But Congressman Souder from Indiana says it makes sense to target drug users because it's so prevalent on college campuses. He says the law sends an important message.

Rep. SOUDER: If you're going to get a subsidized loan or a direct grant from the federal government, because taxpayers are funding that, you have an obligation to follow those laws.

BROOKS: Critics say even with the change, the law is unfair. Scott Ehlers, with the Coalition for Higher Education Act Reform, says it singles out low- and middle-income students and punishes them twice.

Mr. SCOTT EHLERS (Coalition for Higher Education Act Reform): They're being punished by the criminal justice system, and then they get punished by the education system. And to kick them out of school essentially undermines any sort of recovery that they are trying to do.

BROOKS: But for Laura Melendez, who heads to Hampshire College next fall, the change should allow her to reapply for federal aid. Without it, she says, her future would be uncertain.

Ms. MELENDEZ: Well, if I can't get up the money, I mean, I'm going to have to drop out, and I refuse to do that. That's why I'm praying that this change will be implemented soon.

BROOKS: Congress is supposed to reauthorize the Higher Education Act within the coming months, but it's not clear exactly when lawmakers will finish the job. The American Council on Education says that since the law went into effect, more than 140,000 college students and applicants have been denied federal aid. Anthony Brooks, NPR News.

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