The students are being told they are ineligible for some or all federal financial aid because of a new law. The total of the two groups is less than 1 percent of those who applied.
Students can lose one year of federal aid eligibility for a third conviction.
About 790,000 applicants initially failed to answer the question for a first conviction on a drug-possession charge, and two years for a second conviction. They can be suspended indefinitely whether they had been convicted of using drugs when they filled out their student aid applications. But the Education Department contacted many of those students, and the number of those who have not yet answered is now down to 275,000. Department officials allowed college and university 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. Students told officials that they didn't understand the question, did not think it pertained to them or forgot to answer it, Freeman said.