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. 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.
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. 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.