Financial Aid Legal Question: Please Help!

[renvi012]

Hey guys,

   So, here is my dilemma. I have inadvertently committed fraud on my Fafsa application for the past four years. During my first semester of college I received a charge of disorderly conduct and a possession of small amount of marijuana. Since the incident, I have mistakenly thought that the small amount was dropped and I plead guilty to the disorderly conduct. It turns out that I have it backwards, and the disorderly conduct was dropped while I plead guilty to the small amount. Question #31 on the financial aid application explicitly ask if you have any drug possession charges, and I have unknowingly lied on the question and have since received aid. I will be starting graduate school in the fall, and will not be able to attend without financial aid. What should I do? What should have happened four years ago was for me to be ineligible for one year, and complete a rehabilitation program. If I call them and report this now, would I just have to own up to this disciplinary action that I should have fulfilled four years ago? Or will I be responsible for repaying all of the grants I have received between now and then? Further, if I call them and report myself for fraud, will I be subject to criminal charges? I have no idea how to proceed, if anyone has any advice, please let me know. Thanks

[guttata]

Hey guys,

   So, here is my dilemma. I have inadvertently committed fraud on my Fafsa application for the past four years. During my first semester of college I received a charge of disorderly conduct and a possession of small amount of marijuana. Since the incident, I have mistakenly thought that the small amount was dropped and I plead guilty to the disorderly conduct. It turns out that I have it backwards, and the disorderly conduct was dropped while I plead guilty to the small amount. Question #31 on the financial aid application explicitly ask if you have any drug possession charges, and I have unknowingly lied on the question and have since received aid. I will be starting graduate school in the fall, and will not be able to attend without financial aid. What should I do? What should have happened four years ago was for me to be ineligible for one year, and complete a rehabilitation program. If I call them and report this now, would I just have to own up to this disciplinary action that I should have fulfilled four years ago? Or will I be responsible for repaying all of the grants I have received between now and then? Further, if I call them and report myself for fraud, will I be subject to criminal charges? I have no idea how to proceed, if anyone has any advice, please let me know. Thanks

This is potentially a serious problem or potentially no problem at all. Go talk to your schools financial aid office and/or a financial professional, not an internet forum.

[renvi012]

No, I know that this question could be better answered by someone else. I just learned of this an hour ago and was going to call FAFSA. Just wanted to get an opinion first

[TakeruK]

What about talking to a legal professional and getting their opinion before even talking to FAFSA? In your shoes, I would want to know exactly what FAFSA would require me to do before they tell me to do it, so that I don't end up agreeing to do something I didn't need to agree to, or lose a chance where I could have argued a point because I didn't know what my rights were etc.

[Loric]

Don't talk to anyone at the school or loan people or anything without talking to a lawyer first.

 

Start at http://www.nolo.com/

 

See if you can find free advice, but you probably need to schedule a consult with a lawyer (which is usually free) and see from there.

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

Yeah, definitely talk to a lawyer. You could fuck yourself if you play the oblivious card (even if you really were). It's like a person walking up to a police officer with a crack pipe and saying, "Are we allowed to smoke in here?"

[renvi012]

Thanks guys. I spoke with someone from the student legal services at the U and have an appointment for Monday. The woman said basically the same thing, to talk with one of their lawyers before contacting FAFSA. So now I am in the process of getting it expunged from my record as quickly as possible, which should take around three months. Yikes!