New York ? Opponents of a 1998 law that denies federal aid to thousands of college students with criminal drug records are trying to work around the law by offering financial help to those affected.

A coalition of drug-law reform groups on Tuesday inaugurated a scholarship for those denied aid because of drug records. The John W. Perry Fund scholarships honor a New York police officer who decried the war on drugs and died saving people in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.

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“He felt that adults should be able to do with their bodies whatever they wish, as long as they don’t hurt anybody,” said Perry’s mother, Patricia Perry of Seaford, N.Y.

“To punish students who are financially unable to get to college without this assistance is a travesty,” she said. “John would very definitely be in favor of students like that.”

In the same vein, two colleges Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., and Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania are offering loans or grants to such students.

Critics have assailed the law since its inception.

The higher education lobby from student activists to college presidents says the ban unfairly hits some of the people who need aid most, noting that affluent students with drug records don’t need federal aid.

Even the law’s author, Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., says it’s misinterpreted. He meant to bar aid only from students already getting federal aid when convicted, and last month proposed amending the law to make that clear.

The application for federal student aid asks applicants, among other things, “Have you ever been convicted of possessing or selling illegal drugs?”

Those with one drug-possession offense are ineligible for federal college aid for one year after conviction. A second drug-possession or first drug-sale conviction means ineligibility for two years. More convictions bar aid indefinitely, unless the offender undergoes drug rehabilitation.

By early March, 47,063 of the 10.5 million federal aid applicants for this school year face possible denial of aid for all or part of the year, or risk automatic rejection for not answering the conviction question, the U.S. Education Department says.

Among the first 2 million aid applicants for next school year, 9,448 are at risk.