Loophole found on student aid application

When it comes time to fill out a financial aid application, students with a drug conviction face a conundrum: fess up and lose eligibility or lie and get the money.

Since the Aid Elimination Act was passed in 1998, the FAFSA application asks applicants if they have a drug conviction on their record. A “yes” answer may cause the student to lose eligibility for any financial aid for a year or more. 

The dilemma lies in the Department of Education’s verification of the answers, or rather the lack thereof. The system is based entirely on students’ responses; those who say they haven’t been convicted remain eligible, while those who say they have a drug conviction might lose eligibility.

The length for which eligibility is suspended depends on the nature and number of convictions. Completion of a drug rehabilitation program can, in some cases, hasten the reinstatement of eligibility, according to the Department of Education. 

In Montana, 483 applicants have been denied financial aid since 1998, according to numbers given by the Department of Education to the national organization Students for a Sensible Drug Policy.

SSDP has criticized the law as overly harsh, and counterproductive in that it may discourage the pursuit of education.

Nonetheless, Mick Hanson, financial aid director for University of Montana, said students are better off telling the truth. Although UM probably won’t catch students lying about their record on a FAFSA application, someone else might.

“I have the names of a half dozen special agents for the FBI that come in and talk to me about students,” Hanson said. “A month doesn’t go by when I don’t have one of those special agents visiting me to find out about one of these people who wants a job.”

Hanson said students with drug convictions often talk to him about regaining their eligibility through the legal channels, which he fully supports. That way, they have nothing to worry about later in life, he said.

The same can’t be said for students that lie about a conviction, Hanson said.

“They might get away with it now, and it might be fine,” he said. “But five or 10 years down the road they might want a federal job, and they could get into trouble.”