By Dexter Gauntlett
Daily Bruin Contributor
Though preliminary data shows only a small percentage of
students who admitted to a drug conviction on the Free Application
for Federal Student Aid were denied aid, a recent effort by the
Bush administration may change that.
Students who do not answer the drug conviction question the
first time will get a second chance. But if the proper information
is not provided the second time, they will be denied federal
financial aid.
“Congress passed legislation and our department is obliged
to carry out that legislative direction,” Education
Department spokeswoman Lindsey Kozberg told the Associated Press
last week.
The Drug-Free Student Loans Act restricts loans for students
convicted of drug possession. First time offenders will lose aid
for one year, second time offenders for two years, and third time
offenders will lose aid indefinitely.
In recent years, the government has had a difficult time
enforcing this law due to the lack of checks and high volume of
FAFSA applicants.
Students who ignore question 35 on the FAFSA form, which asks:
“Have you ever been convicted of selling or possessing drugs
(not including alcohol or tobacco)?” are required to fill out
a second form, which presents two options.
The student can choose to make a correction to their original
FAFSA form or fill out the specifics of the incident. These are
then tabulated according to a formula.
The federal processor ““ the government contractor who
distributes federal financial aid ““ then decides whether the
student is still eligible for financial aid, based on the
correction or the information provided by the formula, according to
FAFSA spokesman Joe Aiello.
Of the 3,910,692 applications processed through April 8, 2001
for the 2001-2002 school year, there were 15,835 who left question
35 blank. Aiello said these people will receive the second form to
either correct their information or submit the specifics of the
conviction.
According to Aiello, 27,153 applications answered
“yes” to question 35 on the application for the
2001-2002 school year, but that does not mean that they are
ineligible for financial aid.
“They’re not done with the process yet … of that
number, 12,245 came back and filled out a worksheet and it
determined that they were eligible for aid, and the remaining
15,000 will not necessarily be denied aid because they have not
finished the process,” Aiello said.
The 2000-2001 school year was the first year the law was
implemented and 845,000 forms left question 35 blank. The
number of applicants ignoring the question prompted the government
to re-word the question.
“Last year, the question was phrased differently, which
added to the confusion. This year we made it a simple yes or no
question,” Aiello said.
The Clinton administration said it ignored the law because of a
processing backlog created when nearly 1 million applicants skipped
the question.
Aiello said it was difficult to keep up with the high volume of
applications.
“We are still processing for the 2000-2001 school year and
out of 9.8 million people, only 1,745 were denied as a result of
the drug question which comes out to 0.02 percent,” Aiello
said.
UCLA Financial Aid Assistant Michael Baker said the large number
of applications contributed to the ineffectiveness of the federal
law and said change was necessary.
“We used to get a blank and we kept on moving, everyone
ignored it, we didn’t know what to do, we weren’t going
to slow everyone down,” Baker said.
Despite the change in format, however, the system still lacks a
method of verification to confirm that the applicant is telling the
truth, according to Aiello.
“It’s a fine line that you’re walking, when
you say you’re going to be up front about it on a federal
document,” Aiello said.
Furthermore, the act states that students who satisfactorily
complete a drug rehabilitation program that includes drug testing
will regain eligibility for financial aid.
If convicted of possessing or selling drugs after submitting
FAFSA, the applicant must notify the financial aid office at the
applicant’s school. This will result in the loss of
eligibility and all aid received after the conviction must be
repaid. But there is no penalty for a person convicted of
possessing or selling drugs if the perpetrator does not report the
incident to the university.