Hi all! First time poster! I’ve got myself into quite a little pickle, and would really appreciate some advice.
I was unaware of the requirement/never received the letter to register with selective services as a male citizen of these United States. I am now past the age of 26, looking to attend college for the first time, and am finding that higher education may not be accessible to me because of this mistake I made as a young man.
I’ll start with some context: I graduated high school when I was seventeen. My parents own a restaurant, and are very busy people. In spite of their many efforts, they still live well below the poverty line, but that’s just the way things are in their industry/part of the country. I could receive no financial assistance from them, as they had none to give. As busy as they were, they had requested deferrals on their taxes for five years running back. I went to my guidance office to help me apply for college, but they turned me away. I was told that since my parents’ taxes were not in order, and that I could not file as an independent student, that I would not be permitted to fill out the FAFSA, and as a consequence, be ineligible for secondary education. Suffice it to say, I was rather upset about being disenfranchised of this privilege of college, and all that it brings with it. All of my friends were going, and it felt like it was being denied to me because of a seemingly fickle bureaucracy. Now I understand that, arguably, those rules are there for reasons, and that they do protect the process from fraudulent applicants who would detract from the stability of the overall system, but at the time I was young, and upset. So after I graduated from high school (still seventeen, mind you) I made like Jack Kerouac, or Christopher McCandless and left my home, and my life, and hitchhiked, freight hopped and (largely and mostly) walked around this great nation of ours. The next two years were invaluable to me. I met a lot of good people, read a lot of good books, and breathed a lot of free air. Unfortunately though, during this time I (obviously) lacked any form of permanent address, and the selective services letter never found its way to me. My parents have no recollection of any such mail coming for me, and I was never actually appraised of my requirement.
Fast forward to 2016: I’m 26 years old, I’ve been living in a major city for the past five years, I’m in a more stable place, and am seeking to attend college for the first time. I don’t regret my late start, honestly I had no idea what I wanted to do out of high school. Now I’ve read enough science fiction novels to know that engineering sparks me in ways that other things simply cannot. But one does not become an engineer without a diploma (not anymore, anyway). So I fill out, and get approved through FAFSA, I apply and get accepted to a community college with good transfer options, and I schedule myself for a placement test. The ball seems like it’s rolling, right? Nope!
I go to my financial aid department to see what I need to do to see what my award will be like, so I can plan my finances out for the coming semester, and they tell me that they need a few more documents to approve me, among them is the (completely unheard of by me!) selective services verification, without which, no federal financial aid will be awarded to anyone, (almost) period. Now I’m staring at my Selective Service Status Information form, and wondering how to proceed. As I understand it, I am to send my information, along with a reason (letter?) for my failure to register, and they will send a form back to me stating emphatically whether or not I was obliged to. (I was, I did not, I really wish I had). I will hear back from them after six weeks. Since I will be cited as failing to meet this requirement, I must then take a copy of my Status Information form back to my school’s financial aid office, along with Selective Services’ response, and there a financial aid officer will act as final arbiter in my case, and decide whether or not I should be allowed to receive government assistance. From what I’ve read, it seems that the burden of proof really lies on the student to provide. Usually these cases occur to people who immigrated here, or who got out of the military before their 26th birthday, and were unaware that they needed to register. Those scenarios at least provide documentation that might help their case, but a transient lifestyle doesn’t exactly leave a paper trail, which leaves me with, at best, a heartfelt, sincere letter detailing my circumstances that still only amounts to anecdotal/circumstantial evidence. If that’s not enough, if I want to start classes this semester I will have to pay for them out of pocket, which means that I’ll likely only be able to afford to go part time, rather than the full time I intended. I was told that if, after the whole ordeal is over, and I do manage to get the big OK, then I may be reimbursed. (that’s one big, scary hypothetical.)
With that all said, I guess I’ll just boil things down to a few questions:
On the form there or a few lines given to write out your reasons for failing to register. Shall I use this to give a simple overview of the circumstances, and then go into detail in an attached letter, or will this letter be neglected by Selective Services? Shall I include it for my financial aid office when I finally hear back from Selective Services?
Is there anything I should include in my letter to help present my case? Is there any documentation that I may not have thought of that could positively affect it?
If I get approved or denied by my financial aid office, is that decision final, throughout all semesters at this school? Throughout all schools that I ever attend in the country? Will I need to jump through these same hoops every semester I seek to attend college, always running the risk of being denied?
If I am outright denied financial aid on the basis of failure to comply with my duty to register with selective services between the ages of 18 and 25 and am forever barred from receiving federal financial aid under any circumstances are there other options available to me? Scholarships or private loans that I might be pointed in the direction of? I do not have much money, and I’m not sure how paying off private loans while you’re attending school works. Is it possible that the only recourse left to me would be to seek a different path in life that does not include higher education, because it will never be financially feasible for me?
I thank you all for bearing with such a long post. I would really appreciate any advice on the matter. It’s a scary thing, and it weighs heavy on me, and I want to do everything in my power to deal with it. I made a mistake as a young man. Admittedly, I made it in ignorance, but I am still accountable for it, and deeply sorry. But still, I do not believe it so grievous a thing that I should be denied the support for an education that is provided to nearly everyone else (felons and saints are all, in the eyes of the US government, equally deserving of federal aid in the matter of furthering their education… But why not me?). Regardless, it is not a matter of fairness, or attrition against me. It is just a reality that must be dealt with. I thank you again.