Although students may worry about how a possible criminal record could destroy their future hopes of graduate school and careers, one aspect that is unlikely to be affected is financial aid. Unless, that is, it happens to be drug-related.
Except in the incident of drug convictions during a period in which a student receives aid, federal financial grants and loans are not affected by criminal records, nor does the University of Nebraska-Lincoln consider criminal records in its scholarship process.
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid Eligibility Worksheet features just one question pertaining to criminal records:
"Have you been convicted of the possession or sale of illegal drugs and the offense occurred while you were receiving federal student aid (grants, loans, and/or work-study)?"
If the answer is yes, the form instructs, the student will be taken to another worksheet in order to determine actual conviction and eligibility for aid.
Actual convictions are rare, said Shelley Stall, director of Student Legal Services at UNL.
"The student might be eligible for pre-trial diversion, which is often a good option," Stall said. "It may help avoid having to go to court and face the chance of losing. We generally sit down and go over the options first."
Other means of avoiding conviction include negotiating out of court for community service hours.
"In the 12 and a half years I've been here, I don't know the exact number, but I think I must have seen less than six students who have actually, when you get all down through this funnel, had (loss of eligibility) pertain to them," said Craig Munier, director of UNL's Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid.
In the event that a student is convicted while receiving federal aid, the periods of ineligibility for aid are set at one year for the first offense of drug possession, two years for a second offense, and indefinite ineligibility after a third offense.
Penalties are steeper for the sale of illegal drugs, beginning at two years of ineligibility and an indefinite period after a second offense.
Non-drug-related convictions, however, have no such impact on financial aid. As far as federal grants and loans are concerned, a student has less to fear from a burglary or sexual assault conviction than drug possession.
"There aren't any provisions to prevent students from getting (federal) financial aid if they have those kinds of criminal records," Munier said.
On the UNL scholarship side, convictions are not a consideration.
"(We don't remove scholarships for violations) unless it would result in that student being expelled from the institution," Munier said. "If the student is permitted to be in school and is doing the academic work that the scholarship requires, that's what's important."
Serious crimes can be grounds for expulsion, but the Student Judicial Affairs process is complex, leaving the possibility that an offense may not carry a financial or expulsive penalty.
That aside, the only policy in place regarding convicted students' aid is certain forms of financial aid may not be received while incarcerated, Munier said.
FAFSA's drug question was not, in its original conception, intended to imply that drug-related offenses are more serious than other crimes. Rather, they are the only offenses to have been specifically targeted by legislation.
The question was a result of a 1998 adjustment to the Higher Education Act, introduced by then-Rep. Mark Souder of Indiana.
Since its inception, the question has been the subject of near-constant controversy, including accusations of hurting minority applicants and emphasizing drug charges more than other crimes.
The Higher Education Access Act of 2007, for example, aimed to remove the conviction question from the FAFSA, but this point failed and the question remains.
Full convictions are a rare and lengthy process. The penalties for serious crimes could always indirectly affect eligibility for enrollment and financial aid. Yet while university and national policies remain unchanged, a bag of weed may be more dangerous to tuition than a hidden murder weapon — at least according to the books.
iansacks@dailynebraskan.com
is a member of the 
1 comments