<p>I know some families will be slogging through the Fafsa this week. I don't want anyone to stumble and halt because of the Fafsa question on registering for military service. </p>
<p>The FAFSA asks if a male is 18 and registered for military service (the draft). It then offers to register the student. This can really freak out a parent. There are parents who halt the form at this point, forgoing potential thousands in college financial aid for their boy. Please dont do this. It is the LAW that 18-year-old males register for the draft. It is the LAW whether or not the student goes to college or becomes a professional couch surfer. The student (not the parent) will be in violation of the law if there is failure to register. </p>
<p>What is a parent to do? Express your opinions to your Congressional representatives. As written, our current laws are military oriented and gender discriminatory. Females do not have to register. Other countries have all young people register for national service, which can include conservation work, elder care or other actions. Filling out the FAFSA is an excellent opportunity to pause and speak to your offspring (of either gender) about the familys history of service and the current world situations that involve or affect our nation. </p>
<p>We do not currently have an activated draft for military service. You can count that such an action would be well publicized and much discussed before implemented. Checking a please register box does not (currently) put your boy on a bus to boot camp (see a military recruiter for that opportunity and know that can be another path to a paid college education).</p>
<p>What if the student is male and 17? If you check register the student, then the student will receive a postcard saying something like Thanks for trying but you are not yet 18. Please register when you turn 18. </p>
<p>I have known a family whose quest for financial aid came to a screeching halt because the mother could not bring herself to check the box (or let her almost 18 year old male check the box) on the Fafsa question. I think it hurt her son more than she was willing to admit (when he turned 18, he did register at the Post office but that was after all the financial aid deadlines had passed). </p>
<p>Filling out the FAFSA opens all kinds of cans of worms!</p>
<p>We were told my son couldn’t check the box yet and it didn’t cause any problems. He did it 3 months before his October birthday which is what he was instructed. His birthday is the end of October and wasn’t 18 until after he went to school.
I would hope it wouldn’t cause any problems since they can see the applicants DOB, but you never know with the government.</p>
<p>All males who reach the age of 18 are required to register with the selective service. This is not the same as “signing up for the draft”. At this point, there is no draft. Yes…this info would be used if one were to be initiated.</p>
<p>However, if you have an 18 year old son and he does NOT register with the selective service, he will NOT be eligible to receive a nickel of need based federally funded financial aid. Also, keep in mind that there is an upper age to do this registration (I’m not sure what that is) and if you don’t register by that time…it’s too late. We have heard reports here from non-traditional students (over a certain age) who wanted to return to college and wanted to apply for financial aid BUT they had never registered for the selective service. They could not wind the clock back and they were ineligible for federal need based money.</p>
<p>This isn’t a choice…it’s the law. Your 18 year old son is required to register for the selective service.</p>
<p>The upper age is 26. Not registering, as required by law, between the ages of 18 and 26 makes a male ineligible (except in certain situations) for federal student loans and grant programs, federal job training under the Workforce Investment Act, federal jobs or security clearance as a contractor, U.S. citizenship (unless you came here after 26).</p>
<p>I distinctly remember my younger son registering, but I don’t remember if my older son did (he can’t remember, either). Maybe he did, or maybe he didn’t. Is there a way to check to see if a person is currently registered? </p>
<p>DS1 works for the Army as an intern. I would have thought that this would have come up if he hadn’t registered, but who knows???</p>
<p>I think one of the groups that this can hit are the sons of immigrants. I mentioned “register for the draft” to a fellow parent originally from elsewhere and she was stunned. She had never heard of such a thing.</p>
<p>I am almost 99.99% sure our son got something in the mail when he turned 18 telling him he needed to register. Not sure how we would have known he needed to register otherwise. He did not do a FAFSA until he returned to school at 22 and I know he registered at 18.</p>
<p>It’s on a big sign in every post office in the country right next to the registration forms and they announce it in high school. They also tell people when they become permanent residents of the US.</p>
<p>How can this come as a surprise?</p>
<p>And it is the draft–the registry is in case they decide to start up a draft.</p>
<p>Don’t worry, Bush took care of that with the Great Recession. Now they’re turning away people for frivolous reasons and the lines outside the recruiting stations are still long. Your sons will probably be at the older end of the draft pile (early thirties) before things get that good again.</p>
<p>I get irritated at people who don’t register. There is always the honorable option which is to demonstrate sincere and conscientious pacifism for any number of reasons and work actively toward the achievement of peace. You can then submit this as evidence for your desire not to serve in the unlikely event of a draft. I am all for conscientious objection, but it has to be just that… conscientious.</p>
<p>Yes, we reminded ALL the boys in our scout troop that one of their duties upon turning 18 is to register–at the post office or wherever else they preferred, but it is part of them being male adults in the US. Several enlisted!</p>
<p>Folks, if they ever do bring back the draft, all they will have to do is go to all the states’ driver registrations to see how old your sons are. </p>
<p>Are these people who stop filling out the FAFSA when they hit that question going to keep their sons from getting drivers’ licenses?</p>
<p>It surprises me that there has not been a campaign to equalize and have the girls register as well. Maybe too hot button, or just not relevant in a time when it has been so long since the draft was activated?</p>
<p>My son will only be 16 when he graduates and 17 his entire first year of college. We didn’t check the register box because of his age–I hope this doesn’t cause problems. There were no clear instructions on what to do if underage.</p>
<p>Sylvan, I think many of the people who support equal rights oppose the draft (not necessarily military service if voluntary, though). Whereas the push to equalize women (in combat, etc.) came from within the armed services.</p>