College can be a place where adults get their first taste of growing up. Amidst juggling extracurriculars, classes and more, there are many opportunities for plenty of learning experiences. Unfortunately, while all learning experiences may be valuable, the lesson they teach may sting and cause disruption in a young college student’s life.
In particular, that disruption could occur with your child’s financial aid. The learning experience that this blog will briefly address is moving on after getting a drug conviction. While it’s no secret that drugs have a presence on many college campuses, their usage can put financial aid in limbo.
How financial aid and drug convictions work
You may be aware that a drug conviction has a huge potential to hurt your child’s future, but you may be unaware of how they will need to announce it. According to CNBC, while getting federal student aid set up, they will be questioned as to whether they had a drug conviction on their record while they previously received financial aid.
For those that signal that they did, that financial aid will be taken away for a period of a year, in which they now must register and fulfill a rehabilitation program. That or they have to pass two separate drug tests that could occur at any time.
Legislative progress? Maybe eventually…
While some may advocate for the character-building discipline that results from taking this kind of action, others see education as one of the keys to preventing further behavior like this. Thus, making education more difficult to acquire a long-term disadvantage. Last year, a bill titled Financial Aid Fairness for student act had an audience in the House of Representatives. The House delegated it over to the House Committee on Education and Labor. Since these actions over a year ago, the bill has been stagnant in terms of actions taken.
College can add a lot of financial stress to you and your child’s life, so putting financial aid in jeopardy can be startling and make the future seem uncertain. While adjustments may need to be made and plans arranged, reaching out to a professional advocate who can navigate you through trying times can prove to have an enormous impact.
