ok i have like 4 or 5 charges on my record and i was wondering if i will still be able to go to college. my mom told me that time will definetly help my chances as long as i dont get in anymore trouble by the time i apply for college. i have like 3 minor charges and one felony drug charge. i also heard that if you have any drug offenses then you cant get federal student loans. dont know if this is true tho. i want to get into UTA. got any advice or do you know if i can or cant?thxs
going to college with a record
- Thread starter xhead406
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Jerry Atrick
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College entrance apps don't ask if you have a criminal history. I do know, however, that whoever told you you can't get federal student loans with a felony drug conviction is correct.
You called them charges, does that mean they are still pending?
You may be able to go ahead and file your FAFSA now before any conviction and technically you won't be lying.
Good luck.
ChinaMayne
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Im sure you can go to college, but most likely you will have a disadvantage because of the record. keep trying!
An Iz
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It sounds like you haven't even applied to any colleges yet. If you haven't it wouldn't make much sense to apply for federal aid. But if you do apply and get in right away, hit up http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ before your charge stains ya!
Choronzon333
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I love how the drug law s that are "supposed" to keep u off drugs and help u go to college are the ones that make it impossible for you to go to college. You were a good enough student to go and now the drug war assholes have handicapped u!
ChemicalSmiles
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Yeah I would apply immediately for FAFSA
fatstep
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Chances are you'd get approved then halfway through your first semester if your conviction happens youll get the letter saying they've withdrawn your aid and your tuition is either due or you're gone. It happened to a friend who got caught with a half gram of coke he didn't know about under his seat except it was his second semester.
Jerry Atrick
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You guys keep calling them charges - there is a world of difference between a charge and a conviction. So which is it?
Are you saying in January you plan on getting caught with drugs and being charged for it or are you saying you were ALREADY caught with drugs and plan on being convicted for it?
I agree with the other folks and will repeat myself when I say: apply for FAFSA now, before the conviction goes through. At least then you'll be able to get loans for one year (you have to reapply every year so you prolly won't be able to get loans a second year
)the federal aid with felony drug charges arent true as far as ive heard, considering the fact that i have read you need to complete a rehabilitation program to counteract it. im in the same boat, felony, with two misdemeanors and im ready to go, applying and getting a portfolio together by february, im gonna try to get financial aid and i had to do some serious reading because it was the biggest worry of mine.
fatstep
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http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/faq003.htm#faq003_5 Go here it answers your questions.
Methlehem
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Yes, that link covers everything as far as federal student aid is concerned.
I see they've also made an allowance for individuals with drug convictions to attend chemical dependency treatment to continue their educational pursuits, which is fantastic. It's certainly better than having no options at all.
Something you might want to think about doing is just setting up an appointment to visit with the financial aid administrator at your school, and find out exactly what you will be eligible for, if the school has any scholarships available and how to apply for them, and what will be required of you as a student of that institution to maintain your eligibility for any assistance you may be eligible to receive.
Furthermore, before you go spending a lot of money on a particular course of study, maybe it wouldn't hurt to do some pro-active research, especially if you're thinking of going into a profession where graduates may be required to obtain a license, be bonded, or have some other type of "clearance" to work in that field, especially if you're not able to have your offenses removed from your record with ease. I'd suggest contacting a professional organization in your chosen field, or a department / career advisor-type of person and discussing this issue, as well as possible alternatives to roadblocks which may present themselves as you attempt to go through this process.
And, if it should so happen that you were, in fact, convicted of a drug related offense while you were receiving student aid, there are always scholarships available. Most notably there's the John D. Perry Fund, which specifically offers scholarships to students who were denied federal student aid because of drug convictions. You can learn more about this organization and download the application for the scholarship they offer here: http://www.raiseyourvoice.com/Perry-index.html
Lastly, don't get discouraged. There are alternatives. There may be assistance available to you through Vocational Rehabilitation, Volunteers of America, churches, professional organizations / societies, or other civic, community, state, and / or federal organizations and agencies. You just have to find it.
Good luck.
I see they've also made an allowance for individuals with drug convictions to attend chemical dependency treatment to continue their educational pursuits, which is fantastic. It's certainly better than having no options at all.
Something you might want to think about doing is just setting up an appointment to visit with the financial aid administrator at your school, and find out exactly what you will be eligible for, if the school has any scholarships available and how to apply for them, and what will be required of you as a student of that institution to maintain your eligibility for any assistance you may be eligible to receive.
Furthermore, before you go spending a lot of money on a particular course of study, maybe it wouldn't hurt to do some pro-active research, especially if you're thinking of going into a profession where graduates may be required to obtain a license, be bonded, or have some other type of "clearance" to work in that field, especially if you're not able to have your offenses removed from your record with ease. I'd suggest contacting a professional organization in your chosen field, or a department / career advisor-type of person and discussing this issue, as well as possible alternatives to roadblocks which may present themselves as you attempt to go through this process.
And, if it should so happen that you were, in fact, convicted of a drug related offense while you were receiving student aid, there are always scholarships available. Most notably there's the John D. Perry Fund, which specifically offers scholarships to students who were denied federal student aid because of drug convictions. You can learn more about this organization and download the application for the scholarship they offer here: http://www.raiseyourvoice.com/Perry-index.html
Lastly, don't get discouraged. There are alternatives. There may be assistance available to you through Vocational Rehabilitation, Volunteers of America, churches, professional organizations / societies, or other civic, community, state, and / or federal organizations and agencies. You just have to find it.
Good luck.
Theheroineisdead
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Jerry Atrick
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Wow, I did not know thatI just filled out 2 grad school apps a couple of months ago and I don't recall them saying anything about doing a background check. I hope they don't because I have a pretty thick file (though no felonies).
dankstersauce
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To everyone saying to fill out the financial aid ASAP:
As I remember the FASFA, it asked if you had any pending drug charges as well as any convictions.
Truly fucked up that convicted murders, rapists and the like can get financial aid and not drug users.
As I remember the FASFA, it asked if you had any pending drug charges as well as any convictions.
Truly fucked up that convicted murders, rapists and the like can get financial aid and not drug users.
dankstersauce
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add on edit to my post:
"If you are convicted of possessing or selling drugs after you submit your FAFSA, you must notify your financial aid administrator immediately. You will lose your eligibility for federal student aid and will be required to pay back all aid you received after your conviction."
here
I definitely wouldn't take the aid if you think you're going to get convicted (or already have been).
"If you are convicted of possessing or selling drugs after you submit your FAFSA, you must notify your financial aid administrator immediately. You will lose your eligibility for federal student aid and will be required to pay back all aid you received after your conviction."
here
I definitely wouldn't take the aid if you think you're going to get convicted (or already have been).
na yo, Its definately tru. IDK why u think that this wouldnt be true, it says it specifically in the eligibility info about the loans.
And I completed a rehabilitation program, and I still cant get no federal aid. I was in beauty school and got a lil less than half way thru. I had my financial aid from before I got arrested n all that, but then I got kicked outta school for havin a drug problem (lame) so by the time I could look around and try to find another school to go to , to complete my hours and get my cosmo. license, it was too late becuz my fed. aid was now denied becuz of my convictions. IF U HAVE CHARGES, AND AINT BEEN CONVICTED YET, U CAN STILL GET FEDERAL AID....which like someone else said, supposedly u owe them and have to pay back once u convicted. But once ur convicted of the drug charges, ur beat. And ur prob thinking of somethin else with rehabilitation in the name....my PO told me that once u COMPLETE ur probation successfully, u can get this thing called "Certificate of Rehabilitation." Which says u paid ur debt to society n all that...and then that helps ur case a good amount but u cant get it until AFTER ur convicted and after ur sentence of jail parole probation or w/ever is completed successfully. So that cant really help u now....
Its interesting the stuff some of yall sayin about the "review board" and shit approving ppl with records, I dont kno nothin about that, all I kno is that in my experience, it been pretty simple-if u been convicted of a drug felony (or even misdemeanor IIRC) , ur beat. Thats wat I kno tho, I guess read thru all the stuff ppl have said in this thread n put it all together to learn all the info. As far as bein able to get into a college with a record tho? IDK how relevant ur criminal record is to gettin accepted to a college. I never been to a college or applied to one, so thats somethin i dont kno shit about. But I am guessin that if u tryin to get into a mad competetive school thats all stuck up n prestigous and all about their "image", they prob would not be too cool with u havin a criminal background....But any regular normal school that aint like Harvard or somethin, probably wouldnt even be askin/checkin about ur criminal record. just my best guess tho, i aint the person to ask for that end of the question, i only kno about the federal aid related to the convictions thing. good luck yo
bctonymontana
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I was actually looking into this a few months ago and you'll never believe the misinformation that is loaded on the web. The first few articles and answers I read were telling me that as an ex-convict with past drug felony convictions that I was shit out of luck, some saying getting into school, some saying getting federal financial assistance.
Well I knew the getting into school with a conviction was possible because I did it in the past with charges on my record before I dropped out, so I continued looking into the pell grant issue as well and finally found the truth. First off let, me introduce my story: I was actually a bright kid, A.G English, A.G Math, and A.G Science from 3rd grade up. But when I got into middle school I started into the party scene and making the step into illegal pharmaceutical street pharmacist. Started making a killing and by the time I was in highschool was holding close to 10,000 dollars.
Then got out of school in 1998 and took it to new heights, I was running the streets and handing out work to a bunch of my homies living the good life, stacking up my dough, spending like crazy with a little nest egg around 80,000. Finally got my first charge when I was around 23 (set up by a bitch I was seeing [most dealer downfalls come from their bitch for real]), but she didn't get me for any trafficking charges being I didn't let her get that close to my shit. But I got hit up for PWISD Marijuana, Cocaine, and MDMA. Along with about 7 other felonies that were state add-ons (like keeping vehicle for use of selling and manufacturing charges) that got dropped through my plea aggreement after paying $3000 to a lawyer for my 1st offense. He got me the 7 other felonies dropped and I took the 3 felony PWISD charges.
I got 2 years probation, and for the first year I was doing the straight and narrow. I didn't get job for the first year, being my dad told my probation officer I was working for him at his business and she was actually cool as shit. I wanted to go to college so I went to Coastal Carolina Community College and went to sign up. Their policy is you have to wait a full year after conviction before you can attend so I did that. Started back to school and tried to get a job (being I was still spending like I had it and my eggnest was looking pretty grim, like $5000). Nobody would hire my ass for real. So little to say I finally took my ass back to grinding.
This time I kept it simple though, just dank nugs. Little to say I dropped back out of school and got my own apartment again and a new girl (who I've been with for almost 6 years now, the love of my life) who kept on me to get out of the game, but I won't lie, I'm stubborn and wouldn't listen. Around 2005 got back into the yae-yo business with just hooking up a few friends, then around 2006 started setting up a few friends to hustle for me and had a nice egg around 30,000 back into savings and spending about 3000-5000 a month on opiates for mine and my girls newly acclaimed addiction and probably another 5000 on toys, movies, clothes, parties, and going out.
Then it caught up to me again at the end of 2008. Someone gave me a counterfiet 20 dollar bill in a club that was dark, so when I went to pay for a beer they called the cops. They arrived and took me outside to search me and found 5 percocet 10s (the schoolbuses) and charged me with felony trafficking charges of heroin (being opiates are classed together) and felony possession of marijuana (since there was like a lil over a half-pound of weed in my glove compartment). Well this was my second strike and trafficking is mandatory prison time unless you set someone up, which they tried to get me to do. So if anyone you know ever gets charged with that and gets out of it (unless their some unforeseen events that get the charges dropped) but the charges stick, meaning they plead guilty to it, they worked as an informant, trust me.
The lawyer straight told me that it wasn't what he could do for me, it was what I could do for myself. And I got the best one in the city, and paid 15,000 for stupid weed hit and 5 perk pain pills. I finally got the trafficking dropped (being my girl did get in a bad wreck in 2005 and ripped her ACL, which she now gets perk 10s and oxy 40s prescribed to her for the pain, so she said the pills were hers and they hit me with a felony possession of narcotics charge, being I weren't supposed to have her pills on my for her outside of their pill bottle) and took the felony possession of marijuana charge. So now I got another 2 felonies added to my list and got another 3 years of probation (first 6 months were intense). So now employers definately weren't trying to see me at all. So I decided to hit the school route back up (hey it could only help me out).
So I waited the year after conviction and started back up at Coastal Carolina for the fall of 2009. I'm currently in the spring semester for 2010 and have a couple semesters left to get my Associates in English and my Associates in Fine Arts which I'm going after simultaneously being one only needs like one class differently. After that I'm transferring to the Unversity of North Carolina of Wilmington for my Bachelors of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (their Creative Writing Program is rated #5 in nation for non-fiction, #22 in poetry, and #25 for fiction [which is what I'm going for]) and a minor in English.Then I'm gonna go for my Master's and then a Doctorate in Creative Writing so I got another 5-7 years to go but by then enough time will have transpired to give me enough wiggle room with employers and I'll have a PHD standing gaurd behind me lol.
The only problem I was having was the finances, the state was looking at me this time (they told me they would being the cops were pissed that I didn't go down for the trafficking being they've wanted me for a while now and tried but I had luck always on my side so they never could, aint trying to press that luck with a strike 3 though). I took my lumps in the system but even then I'm a abnormality being most people who deal for 15 years or more end up in prison. So I couldn't just start paying tuition bills without some sort of income being they searched my bank records with the help of the DEA and found around 200.
So I decided to apply for a pell grant, being I haven't worked in ever, had no tax records since around 98-99, so I knew I'd be approved. But I was wandering how a felony would hold up in this stance. In my case 5 of em from 2 different instances. My first few searches turned up the fact that you were shit out of luck with a felony. If I had of ended my search right then and there I would of never found the truth, being there's alot of misinformation out there. Alot of it is correct, but only for another time in the time-line though (meaning they're still telling people info that they found out along time ago without looking back into it, or others were websites that never updated) so I'm here to set the record straight for all my fellow felons out there who want to get their life in order as I did.
First off around 98 the congress created a bill that stopped allowing anyone who got charged with some misdemeanor drug possessions and any felony drug possessions or dealing charges to be disenfranchised from any federal college financial assistance. What they did was say you could be convicted of murder, rape, or larceny with assault weapons and be able to get a pell grant with those felonies but not drugs. This started an outcry that would continue for years. Then finally in after the 9/11 incident, one prior police officer who turned D.A, named John W. Perry, died helping out at ground zero (sucks cause he was a good man, look him up, he was constantly fighting for human rights). After his death they commemorated him with opening the John W. Perry Fund which offered scholarships to felons who were denied assistance because of their drug convictions.
They also were constantly in the limelight of the media fighting for their cause which finally brought a change around 2002. They finally laid back on the misdameanor and felony possession charges and left it at the felony drug dealing wasn't able to get grants or loans. The battle commenced until it changed again in 2005 making everyone able to get grants. The only draw back was if once again convicted of selling drugs you would then have to stay out of trouble for a year and have gone through some sort of drug program that hit you with at least 2 unannounced urine test to show you were clean staying clean. Then finally Obama got elected and got the feds to back off of the Medical Ganja Groups and got us some more change to the pell grant felony bill.
They finally changed it to what we have now. Which is it doesn't matter what you are charged with, you're good to get federal assistance no matter the felony. The only draw back is if you are charged with dealing drugs while attending college and recieving federal assistance at the same time. If that's the case then you lose the assistance and have to pay back the amount of the grant during that semester or semesters the charge was pending if found guilty. But even then you can still get your assistance back for future semesters if you stay clean and out of trouble for a year and do the drug program and/or tested by unannounced urine tests twice showing clean by even a probation or parole officer. Which is how it's should of been from the beggining.
I can understand the government not wanting to help with financial assistance because your W2's show that you don't have the ability to pay yourself, only to find out that you were dealing drugs at the time, meaning you did have the ability but being it isn't taxable you got out of paying. Completely understandable. I just filled out the FAFSA for the 2010-2011 school year and was approved for the full amount being I have no record of wages for the year of 2009 being I didn't have a job for the entire year, since no one would hire my ass, but this at least gives me hope.
And the fact that after 5 years the governments outlook on the situation has changed to the point I am able to get the max of somewhere between 5300 and 5400 this year in a pell grant also gives me hope that after another 7 years of school, after I finally recieve my PHD, society's outlook on non-violent and non-larceny crimes such as felony possessions of drugs or drug dealing convictions won't be looked on as deal breakers in the employment arena as well.
Here's hoping to change, and I hope my story has spread a little bit of enlightenment to those felons out there who are looking to better there lives through a college education.
Whether for acknowledgement that they are able to attend school with a felony charge, or their ability to get federal assistance from the government to help pay for it. For now I'm gonna continue my educational pursuit and have recently started on my first novel. Who knows if my career as a novelist blossoms, I'll never have to worry about hoping an employer see's past my criminal record being I'll be my own boss.
So for everyone out their who's a convicted felon (and please don't judge us for most everyone out their has commited some sort of crime or felony and just hasn't been caught and labled so you're no better than ex or current convict out there, actually you're worse being your judging someone else while being a hypocrite. And trust me no one out their doesn't commit or hasn't commited some sort of crime, I mean just go down to your local courthouse and get the full list of crimes which would probably be around 30 to 50 gigantic books of criminal charges in your state and county. Some are so stupid like spitting on a sidewalk which aren't pushed by policeman per say but if you do it and like I said you've done something before and almost all probably still do) I'd like to say hold your head up high, and stay with the program because the truth of the matter is that, sure you're past may stay with you, but you still have a future to look forward to, the only difference is we gotta work twice as hard to achieve what someone without a record (notice I didn't say innocent) has or is able to get.
Just don't fall back into that old mentality as I did or you might find yourself looking at two-strikes worrying about the 3rd and final. You can all do it, if you put your mind to it, and don't let anyone get you to believe you can't. Plus one more thing alot of felons are confused about or get misinformation about, your ability to vote. There's only 2 states where being a felon means your unable to vote in elections after becoming a felon. And even in those 2, you can still get that right back through gettting a presidential pardon. Say in North Carolina, which is where I'm from, as soon as you finish your sentence: whether its prison time, or parole, or probation; your automatically able to register to vote again on the next election.
So find out what the policy is in your state and start voting again. In America the number of convicted felons is so high that if we started speaking up for our rights then we would be a power to recon with. The problem is getting us all on the same page, seems it would be easy being society has already lumped us together to begin with. Just food for thought. Oh yeah, just one more thing to anyone who judges a felon, take your two-cents and shove it, then read this.
"Fear makes for easy politics. It both wins votes and primes us to give government more power at the expense of personal liberty. And that's certainly true when it comes to crime. With the possible exception of an incumbent mayor, politicians only benefit from exaggerating the threat of violent crime. Senators, Congressmen, and even governors are rarely held responsible when the crime rate goes up. But they do win votes by proposing new powers for police and prosecutors to bring it down.
The result has been a one-way ratchet effect on crime policy. We're perpetually expanding police and prosecutorial power, a process only occasionally slowed by the courts. Congress and state legislatures rarely take old criminal statutes off the books, but they're always adding new ones. A 2008 report from the Heritage Foundation estimates that at the federal level alone, Congress has been adding about 55 new crimes to the federal criminal code each year since the 1980s. There are now about 4,500 separate federal crimes. And that doesn't include federal regulations, which are increasingly being enforced with criminal, not administrative, penalties. It also doesn't include the increasing leeway with which prosecutors can enforce broadly written federal conspiracy, racketeering, and money laundering laws. And this is before we even get to the states' criminal codes.
In his new book, the Boston-based civil liberties advocate and occasional Reason contributor Harvey Silverglate estimates that in 2009, the average American commits about three federal felonies per day. And yet, we aren’t a nation of degenerates. On the contrary, most social indicators have been moving in a positive direction for a generation. Silverglate argues we're committing these crimes unwittingly. The federal criminal code has become so vast and open to interpretation, Silverglate argues, that a U.S. Attorney can find a way to charge just about anyone with violating federal law. In fact, it's nearly impossible for some business owners to comply with one federal regulation without violating another one. We're no longer governed by laws, we're governed by the whims of lawyers.
Whatever one may think of Ayn Rand's political philosophy or ethics, her criminal justice prophecy has proven unsettlingly accurate: In our continuing eagerness to purge American society of crime, we've allowed the government to make us all into criminals."
[Edited to add paragraph breaks.]
Well I knew the getting into school with a conviction was possible because I did it in the past with charges on my record before I dropped out, so I continued looking into the pell grant issue as well and finally found the truth. First off let, me introduce my story: I was actually a bright kid, A.G English, A.G Math, and A.G Science from 3rd grade up. But when I got into middle school I started into the party scene and making the step into illegal pharmaceutical street pharmacist. Started making a killing and by the time I was in highschool was holding close to 10,000 dollars.
Then got out of school in 1998 and took it to new heights, I was running the streets and handing out work to a bunch of my homies living the good life, stacking up my dough, spending like crazy with a little nest egg around 80,000. Finally got my first charge when I was around 23 (set up by a bitch I was seeing [most dealer downfalls come from their bitch for real]), but she didn't get me for any trafficking charges being I didn't let her get that close to my shit. But I got hit up for PWISD Marijuana, Cocaine, and MDMA. Along with about 7 other felonies that were state add-ons (like keeping vehicle for use of selling and manufacturing charges) that got dropped through my plea aggreement after paying $3000 to a lawyer for my 1st offense. He got me the 7 other felonies dropped and I took the 3 felony PWISD charges.
I got 2 years probation, and for the first year I was doing the straight and narrow. I didn't get job for the first year, being my dad told my probation officer I was working for him at his business and she was actually cool as shit. I wanted to go to college so I went to Coastal Carolina Community College and went to sign up. Their policy is you have to wait a full year after conviction before you can attend so I did that. Started back to school and tried to get a job (being I was still spending like I had it and my eggnest was looking pretty grim, like $5000). Nobody would hire my ass for real. So little to say I finally took my ass back to grinding.
This time I kept it simple though, just dank nugs. Little to say I dropped back out of school and got my own apartment again and a new girl (who I've been with for almost 6 years now, the love of my life) who kept on me to get out of the game, but I won't lie, I'm stubborn and wouldn't listen. Around 2005 got back into the yae-yo business with just hooking up a few friends, then around 2006 started setting up a few friends to hustle for me and had a nice egg around 30,000 back into savings and spending about 3000-5000 a month on opiates for mine and my girls newly acclaimed addiction and probably another 5000 on toys, movies, clothes, parties, and going out.
Then it caught up to me again at the end of 2008. Someone gave me a counterfiet 20 dollar bill in a club that was dark, so when I went to pay for a beer they called the cops. They arrived and took me outside to search me and found 5 percocet 10s (the schoolbuses) and charged me with felony trafficking charges of heroin (being opiates are classed together) and felony possession of marijuana (since there was like a lil over a half-pound of weed in my glove compartment). Well this was my second strike and trafficking is mandatory prison time unless you set someone up, which they tried to get me to do. So if anyone you know ever gets charged with that and gets out of it (unless their some unforeseen events that get the charges dropped) but the charges stick, meaning they plead guilty to it, they worked as an informant, trust me.
The lawyer straight told me that it wasn't what he could do for me, it was what I could do for myself. And I got the best one in the city, and paid 15,000 for stupid weed hit and 5 perk pain pills. I finally got the trafficking dropped (being my girl did get in a bad wreck in 2005 and ripped her ACL, which she now gets perk 10s and oxy 40s prescribed to her for the pain, so she said the pills were hers and they hit me with a felony possession of narcotics charge, being I weren't supposed to have her pills on my for her outside of their pill bottle) and took the felony possession of marijuana charge. So now I got another 2 felonies added to my list and got another 3 years of probation (first 6 months were intense). So now employers definately weren't trying to see me at all. So I decided to hit the school route back up (hey it could only help me out).
So I waited the year after conviction and started back up at Coastal Carolina for the fall of 2009. I'm currently in the spring semester for 2010 and have a couple semesters left to get my Associates in English and my Associates in Fine Arts which I'm going after simultaneously being one only needs like one class differently. After that I'm transferring to the Unversity of North Carolina of Wilmington for my Bachelors of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (their Creative Writing Program is rated #5 in nation for non-fiction, #22 in poetry, and #25 for fiction [which is what I'm going for]) and a minor in English.Then I'm gonna go for my Master's and then a Doctorate in Creative Writing so I got another 5-7 years to go but by then enough time will have transpired to give me enough wiggle room with employers and I'll have a PHD standing gaurd behind me lol.
The only problem I was having was the finances, the state was looking at me this time (they told me they would being the cops were pissed that I didn't go down for the trafficking being they've wanted me for a while now and tried but I had luck always on my side so they never could, aint trying to press that luck with a strike 3 though). I took my lumps in the system but even then I'm a abnormality being most people who deal for 15 years or more end up in prison. So I couldn't just start paying tuition bills without some sort of income being they searched my bank records with the help of the DEA and found around 200.
So I decided to apply for a pell grant, being I haven't worked in ever, had no tax records since around 98-99, so I knew I'd be approved. But I was wandering how a felony would hold up in this stance. In my case 5 of em from 2 different instances. My first few searches turned up the fact that you were shit out of luck with a felony. If I had of ended my search right then and there I would of never found the truth, being there's alot of misinformation out there. Alot of it is correct, but only for another time in the time-line though (meaning they're still telling people info that they found out along time ago without looking back into it, or others were websites that never updated) so I'm here to set the record straight for all my fellow felons out there who want to get their life in order as I did.
First off around 98 the congress created a bill that stopped allowing anyone who got charged with some misdemeanor drug possessions and any felony drug possessions or dealing charges to be disenfranchised from any federal college financial assistance. What they did was say you could be convicted of murder, rape, or larceny with assault weapons and be able to get a pell grant with those felonies but not drugs. This started an outcry that would continue for years. Then finally in after the 9/11 incident, one prior police officer who turned D.A, named John W. Perry, died helping out at ground zero (sucks cause he was a good man, look him up, he was constantly fighting for human rights). After his death they commemorated him with opening the John W. Perry Fund which offered scholarships to felons who were denied assistance because of their drug convictions.
They also were constantly in the limelight of the media fighting for their cause which finally brought a change around 2002. They finally laid back on the misdameanor and felony possession charges and left it at the felony drug dealing wasn't able to get grants or loans. The battle commenced until it changed again in 2005 making everyone able to get grants. The only draw back was if once again convicted of selling drugs you would then have to stay out of trouble for a year and have gone through some sort of drug program that hit you with at least 2 unannounced urine test to show you were clean staying clean. Then finally Obama got elected and got the feds to back off of the Medical Ganja Groups and got us some more change to the pell grant felony bill.
They finally changed it to what we have now. Which is it doesn't matter what you are charged with, you're good to get federal assistance no matter the felony. The only draw back is if you are charged with dealing drugs while attending college and recieving federal assistance at the same time. If that's the case then you lose the assistance and have to pay back the amount of the grant during that semester or semesters the charge was pending if found guilty. But even then you can still get your assistance back for future semesters if you stay clean and out of trouble for a year and do the drug program and/or tested by unannounced urine tests twice showing clean by even a probation or parole officer. Which is how it's should of been from the beggining.
I can understand the government not wanting to help with financial assistance because your W2's show that you don't have the ability to pay yourself, only to find out that you were dealing drugs at the time, meaning you did have the ability but being it isn't taxable you got out of paying. Completely understandable. I just filled out the FAFSA for the 2010-2011 school year and was approved for the full amount being I have no record of wages for the year of 2009 being I didn't have a job for the entire year, since no one would hire my ass, but this at least gives me hope.
And the fact that after 5 years the governments outlook on the situation has changed to the point I am able to get the max of somewhere between 5300 and 5400 this year in a pell grant also gives me hope that after another 7 years of school, after I finally recieve my PHD, society's outlook on non-violent and non-larceny crimes such as felony possessions of drugs or drug dealing convictions won't be looked on as deal breakers in the employment arena as well.
Here's hoping to change, and I hope my story has spread a little bit of enlightenment to those felons out there who are looking to better there lives through a college education.
Whether for acknowledgement that they are able to attend school with a felony charge, or their ability to get federal assistance from the government to help pay for it. For now I'm gonna continue my educational pursuit and have recently started on my first novel. Who knows if my career as a novelist blossoms, I'll never have to worry about hoping an employer see's past my criminal record being I'll be my own boss.
So for everyone out their who's a convicted felon (and please don't judge us for most everyone out their has commited some sort of crime or felony and just hasn't been caught and labled so you're no better than ex or current convict out there, actually you're worse being your judging someone else while being a hypocrite. And trust me no one out their doesn't commit or hasn't commited some sort of crime, I mean just go down to your local courthouse and get the full list of crimes which would probably be around 30 to 50 gigantic books of criminal charges in your state and county. Some are so stupid like spitting on a sidewalk which aren't pushed by policeman per say but if you do it and like I said you've done something before and almost all probably still do) I'd like to say hold your head up high, and stay with the program because the truth of the matter is that, sure you're past may stay with you, but you still have a future to look forward to, the only difference is we gotta work twice as hard to achieve what someone without a record (notice I didn't say innocent) has or is able to get.
Just don't fall back into that old mentality as I did or you might find yourself looking at two-strikes worrying about the 3rd and final. You can all do it, if you put your mind to it, and don't let anyone get you to believe you can't. Plus one more thing alot of felons are confused about or get misinformation about, your ability to vote. There's only 2 states where being a felon means your unable to vote in elections after becoming a felon. And even in those 2, you can still get that right back through gettting a presidential pardon. Say in North Carolina, which is where I'm from, as soon as you finish your sentence: whether its prison time, or parole, or probation; your automatically able to register to vote again on the next election.
So find out what the policy is in your state and start voting again. In America the number of convicted felons is so high that if we started speaking up for our rights then we would be a power to recon with. The problem is getting us all on the same page, seems it would be easy being society has already lumped us together to begin with. Just food for thought. Oh yeah, just one more thing to anyone who judges a felon, take your two-cents and shove it, then read this.
"Fear makes for easy politics. It both wins votes and primes us to give government more power at the expense of personal liberty. And that's certainly true when it comes to crime. With the possible exception of an incumbent mayor, politicians only benefit from exaggerating the threat of violent crime. Senators, Congressmen, and even governors are rarely held responsible when the crime rate goes up. But they do win votes by proposing new powers for police and prosecutors to bring it down.
The result has been a one-way ratchet effect on crime policy. We're perpetually expanding police and prosecutorial power, a process only occasionally slowed by the courts. Congress and state legislatures rarely take old criminal statutes off the books, but they're always adding new ones. A 2008 report from the Heritage Foundation estimates that at the federal level alone, Congress has been adding about 55 new crimes to the federal criminal code each year since the 1980s. There are now about 4,500 separate federal crimes. And that doesn't include federal regulations, which are increasingly being enforced with criminal, not administrative, penalties. It also doesn't include the increasing leeway with which prosecutors can enforce broadly written federal conspiracy, racketeering, and money laundering laws. And this is before we even get to the states' criminal codes.
In his new book, the Boston-based civil liberties advocate and occasional Reason contributor Harvey Silverglate estimates that in 2009, the average American commits about three federal felonies per day. And yet, we aren’t a nation of degenerates. On the contrary, most social indicators have been moving in a positive direction for a generation. Silverglate argues we're committing these crimes unwittingly. The federal criminal code has become so vast and open to interpretation, Silverglate argues, that a U.S. Attorney can find a way to charge just about anyone with violating federal law. In fact, it's nearly impossible for some business owners to comply with one federal regulation without violating another one. We're no longer governed by laws, we're governed by the whims of lawyers.
Whatever one may think of Ayn Rand's political philosophy or ethics, her criminal justice prophecy has proven unsettlingly accurate: In our continuing eagerness to purge American society of crime, we've allowed the government to make us all into criminals."
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junctionalfunkie
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2006
- Messages
- 2,710
^ Great post and a hell of a story, to boot!
Welcome to BL!
Welcome to BL!
1--IDK wat u mean by "trafficking" if you referring specifically to DEALING or a actual trafficking charge, but u cant say that "somebody snitched trust me" becuz a-u dont kno wat state they in and the laws there and b-u dont kno the situation surrounding it...For exampl...I got set up for a fairly large undercover bust (50 pills of a strong narcotic that u can grind up and sniff in the highest dose that it comes in....) now, in some places, I woulda got hit with charges out the fuckin ASS...Im lucky that i live somewhere that this shit is pretty common, becuz if u got charged with trafficking for FIVE percocets, thats ridicuoous, u only possessed them meanwhile i got caught in the act of makin a drug deal with TEN TIMES the amount of the quantity of pills, and each pill was EIGHT TIMES stronger than the ones u had, and i caught regular ass distribution, second degree felony charge, and another charge of conspiracy to distribute, a second degree felony charge.
Anywas to make a long story short the po po's fucked up with the process they used to wiretap me....And i pleaded out to conspiracy to distribute, they dropped the straight distribution...I didnt open my mouth one fuckin word...i was just lucky that the police was some fuckups who couldnt execute a warrant properly....
So, my point was jus that the charge did stick, conspiracy is just as bad as distribution when its the same degree, and in general conspiracy is considered a bad charge becuz of all the connatations of RICO, organized crime, etc it brings up , it aint a weak charge...but becuz of the amazing lawyer and great plea deal I got off w/out prison time....
So, u cant always say that u kno the deal about if someone snitch or not by only knowing the charge they had cuz u dont kno the background.
Aight, onto my 2nd quote
I got caught while in school gettin financial aid and convicted of the conspiracy distribution felony...i aint eligible for financial aid, i went to apply at another school and say w/the financial director, we looked thru the application for FAFSA right there on the desk and I seen with my own eyes the restrictions, which was that if u have a drug conviction for a felony u aint eligible for FAFSA Stafforrd loans, etc. When i went for that interview it was the first week of september of this year so maybe that shit changed since, IDK, but thats wat they told me then....maybe theres lloop holes tho, like u said, all how u intepret "federal aid" and how much that covers, if its just stafford loans or the pell grant too, etc.
As far as the votin thing...Unless ur including NC and NJ as the 2 states, that seems off to me..becuz I live in NJ and after my convictions i got my letter that said I aint eligible to vote....Seems like 2 states is a real small amount of states that has that law. Or maybe its that it just happens to be the one u said, and my state as well , that could be too. IDK. But Just sayin. if u said any other state than nj as the second one, then ur info is wrong.
Not tryna call u out, jus want to share the correct information with all us felony-havin higher-learning-pursuers like u do.