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Selective Service and drug conviction questions remain on FAFSA but won't impact financial aid eligibility
June 30, 2021
Students completing the FAFSA for the next couple of years will see questions about Selective Service and drug convictions, but no matter how students answer the questions, it will not impact their financial aid.
The U.S. Department of Education is implementing some new rules that were part of the FAFSA Simplification Act that was passed by Congress in December 2020. The Act allowed the Department of Education to remove the answers to those questions when considering a student's eligibility for federal financial aid. Previously, all male students had to register with the Selective Service to be eligible for federal financial aid and students with drug convictions may have been disqualified from receiving federal financial aid.
For the 2021-22 FAFSA and the 2022-23 FAFSA, the Selective Service and drug conviction questions remain, but the answers to the questions will no longer impact a student's eligibility for Title IV aid. Students who were deemed ineligible for Title IV aid prior to the implementation of the new law will be notified by the Department, informing them they may now be eligible for federal aid.
The Department of Education will remove the questions from the 2023-24 FAFSA.