Drug offenders receive aid from colleges

DRUGOFFENDERS,from 1

A student's federal aid is based on a student's response on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form.

Question number 35 .asks whether or not a student has a drug conviction. If a student fills in the blank with a "yes," there is an accompanying work sheet that asks for more specific infonnation.

Smith said that students sometimes fill the form out incorrectly because the instructions on the FAFSA form are unclear. "In order to be denied, the conviction has to be within a year of when you are applying for aid," Smith said. This means, for example, that if a student was convicted in 1999 and is applying for federal aid in the 2002-2003 school year, the student should mark "no" in the question box.

Yale intends to award the student whatever aid the student would have received from the federal government. Western Washington University, however, has established a $750 scholarship to students who were rejected because of a drug-related conviction.

Lynne Masland, director of financial aid at Western Washington University said, '"rhe scholarship was not funded by taxpayer or private donor dollars nor is it governed by university policy or