Drug Convictions and Federal Aid in Albuquerque

 

How Does a Drug Conviction Affects your Ability to Receive Federal Aid in Albuquerque, New Mexico?

 

For over a decade I’ve heard this question whispered from the Sub Ballroom at UNM to the halls at the Metropolitan Court House.  This is one of those questions that has achieved an urban legendary status.  Unfortunately, most of the answers circulating throughout Albuquerque are about as fuzzy as pictures of Bigfoot that seem to surface every few years.   In the paragraphs below I will lure the answer to this illusive question out of its cave and into the web, pacifying the inquisitive minds of the 505.

As a historical backdrop, much of the confusion on this issue stems from the changes in legislation that have occurred over the years.  In 1998 legislation was introduced through the Higher Education Act delaying or denying federal aid to applicants with any misdemeanor or felony drug convictions – past or present. According to this Act applicants with a single conviction for possessing an illegal drug lost eligibility for one year form the date of conviction.  Applicants with two possession convictions or one sales conviction lost eligibility for two years.  Three possession convictions or two sales convictions meant that one lost eligibility indefinitely.

In 2006 the relatively broad and harsh restrictions of the 1998 Act were modified and limited to drug convictions that a student received while enrolled in college and actively receiving Federal aid.

Today your eligibility for federal student loans are suspended only if you are convicted for the possession or sale of illegal drugs and the drug offense occurred during a period of enrollment when you were receiving federal student aid.

If the conviction for possessing or selling illegal drugs occurred during a period when you were receiving federal student aid (grants, loans and/or work-study) you will become eligible to receive federal aid once you complete an acceptable drug rehabilitation program, or after the period of ineligibility ends – one year for each conviction.

If the drug conviction occurred two or more years ago, while you were receiving federal aid, then the drug rehabilitation program is not required and you are still eligible to receive federal aid.

If you have more than one drug conviction in the past two years, each drug conviction results in one year of ineligibility.  With three or more drug convictions you are out of the game, and any Federal aid is suspended indefinitely.

Lastly, according to federal law, convictions that were reversed, set aside, or removed from your record do not count for the purposes of ineligibility.  Also, convictions that occurred before you were 18 are excluded, unless you were prosecuted as an adult.