Donald is not allowed to receive federal assistance to help pay for his college education. He is no longer eligible for federal financial aid due to a string of convictions for simple drug possession. In order to be able to go to college, Donald applied for and received a scholarship through the Perry Fund, a non-profit fund which awards scholarships specifically to Americans in Donald’s situation.

Q: How did you hear of the fund?

I was directed to a legal clinic called the mental health clinic- and they told me about the Perry Fund. It’s right here in Manhattan.

Q: Where are you going to college?

Starting this fall, it will be my second year at York College in Queens. It’s part of the City College of New York. I’ll be going full time. The grant is for $2,000, it covers tuition.

Q: What is your field of study?

Environmental health science, a bachelors of science. I hope to start working as an environmentalist. I am not too familiar with the career options open to me. But I am hoping to find some kind of work.

Q: Are you working as well?

No, I am just going to school.

Q: Tell me a little about your drug history.  

I guess I should start- I was using drugs because I was schizophrenic and just had nothing else to do. I went to a drop in clinic to get help with m drug problem and was looking for a place to stay to help with my homelessness problem. I was homeless also. They told me I had to get off drugs. I went to group therapy and they stressed I couldn’t be on drugs and I believed them. Until then, I had no reason to get off drugs. So I got clean.

I got off drugs so I could stay and I got my high school equivalency diploma.

Q: What year were you at the drop in center?

1998

“You don’t realize you have schizophrenia. You think the thoughts that you have are real, but they’re not.”

Q: How long have you had problems with schizophrenia?

I’ve had that a long time- all my life just about- since I was a teenager. That is why I was doing drugs so much, because I was in my own world.

Q: How would you describe schizophrenia to someone who doesn’t know about it?

Sometimes, it makes you think thoughts you don’t want to think. It just puts you in a world of your own where you don’t relate to normal people. It just keeps you there. You don’t realize you have schizophrenia. You think the thoughts that you have are real, but they’re not.

Taking medication can help you a lot. I wasn’t taking medication for a long time. That’s why I depended on drugs.

I was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1970. I would go to the hospital and take medication but when I got out I would stop taking medications so I wouldn’t get any better. But now, hopefully, I am on my way to recovery.

Q: How do your medications help?

It makes up for a chemical imbalance in your brain. It takes time, but it soothes, it calms you down and lets you think rationally. It works with time.

Q: Where are you staying now?

Now I’m with Pathways to Housing. They gave me an apartment to live in and I have to see my case manager every so often.

Q: Have you been to other treatment programs?

I used to stay away from them because I didn’t want to get help. I just didn’t want help.

Now I have something to do. Going to school keeps my mind busy. I don’t hear voices anymore. I just feel a lot better all around and most of all- I’m no longer addicted to the drugs. I have no need to use them anymore.

I had a very strong urge to go back and use. After about a month it subsided. Then I realized the importance of staying away from the drugs- so that I wouldn’t get addicted again.

Q: Do you ever worry that you will stop taking your medication?

No, I just continue to take it.

Q: How has your family been involved?

I didn’t hear from them until I stopped taking drugs. Now I hear from them regularly. I have two sisters- one in Manhattan and one in Ohio.

Q: What would you tell people who are facing similar problems?

Keep taking your medication and have to something to live for, something to be proud of. Pretty soon your mind will heal and then you can go on with life as if healthy again.

Q: What about people who don’t want to get help?

That’s a hard thing because if you don’t have counseling you wouldn’t even know that you need counseling. Somehow people should believe psychiatrists when they say it’s good for you.

Q: What can make someone ineligible for federal assistance with college tuition?

Any drug conviction. I have three of them so that makes me ineligible. If it’s just one [for material possession], you have to wait three months. For two, you can get it repealed maybe after six months. But with three, it’s a conviction indefinitely. A selling conviction is indefinite.

Q: What were your charges?

In the process of doing crack cocaine I would get picked up- I had 17 convictions for possession. One time I had a conviction for attempted sales and I did four out of six months of a prison term. That made me want to stop because for four months I wasn’t on any drugs. They’re against the law.

Q: Out of those 17 times, were you ever offered treatment?

One time. Treatment came up as an option, but I returned to using drugs because it didn’t work for me. I didn’t believe in it. It wasn’t long enough for me. I was court ordered to go to group therapy sessions. We would meet a couple times a week for one month.

Q: Was that the result of one of the early arrests or a later one?

It was in the middle.

Q: If it wasn’t for the Perry Fund, how would you go to school?

I wouldn’t be able to go.

Q: Which drug policy would you change first?

I would change the law that makes students ineligible first of all.

Also, I wouldn’t be so harsh on people who sell the drugs. I wouldn’t hand out 10 or 15 year sentences like they do now. I would make it mandatory that people who use drugs get help.