Although drug-reform activists claim that more than 40,000 college students will lose financial aid during the current school year because of a controversial 1998 law, financial aid officials at Brown, RISD, URI, and other schools say the matter is a non-issue in Rhode Island.

As part of the 1998 revision to the federal Higher Education Act (HEA), students who have been convicted of a drug charge are ineligible for federal educational aid. Critics contend the law is misguided because, among other reasons, it's discriminatory, targets only those students who need financial aid, and ignores alcohol, the most widely abused drug on college campuses.

But financial aid officials at colleges around Rhode Island say the 1998 revision -- which has sparked a sustained lobbying effort by The Coalition for HEA Reform, a collection of activists, advocacy groups, and student organizations -- hasn't had a tangible local impact.

"I have not encountered any students who have been directly affected by the law," says Chris Jenkins, assistant dean of enrollment services at the Community College of Rhode Island. Then again, the lack of impact may be mostly due to how, as Peter Reifer, RISD's director of financial aid, says, he's "never had a student admit to being convicted of drug charges on their application." And since the drug question is "self-certifying," government officials rely on financial aid administrators to trust students' statements about their own drug history.

This highlights one of the law's faults, says Steven Silverman, campus coordinator for the Washington, DC-based Drug Reform Coordination Network (www.drcnet.org). "Students who tell the truth are the ones being hurt," Silverman says. The government is encouraging students to lie."

He confirms that the network hasn't received complaints about the law from Rhode Island students. As in other states, the problem is that "we are dealing with an invisible population," Silverman says. "The set of people hurt by this law do not have the means to fight it."

There may be even less candor when it comes to self-disclosure because of tighter enforcement of the 1998 revision. According to DRCNet, 279,000 students had their financial aid applications processed last year after failing to answer the drug question, but incomplete aid applications are no longer being processed. Meanwhile, 55 members of Congress have cosponsored US Representative Barney Frank's bill to repeal the 19988 HEA provision, and opponents are continuing their lobbying efforts.

Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis[a]phx.com.

Issue Date: November 9 - 15, 2001