Can you go to college or get financial aid with a felony?

The rules

• A drug conviction no longer affects your eligibility for federal student aid.^1,2

  The FAFSA Simplification Act (part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021) removed the suspension of federal student aid for drug-related convictions. The Department of Education announced early implementation in a Federal Register notice effective June 17, 2021 (86 FR 32252), phased in across the 2021-22 to 2023-24 award years, and Federal Student Aid's student pages now say 'Drug convictions no longer affect federal student aid eligibility.' The same law ended the Selective Service registration requirement for aid.

• Since July 1, 2023, people in prison or jail can get a Pell Grant, but only if they are enrolled in an approved prison education program.^3,4,5,6

  The FAFSA Simplification Act restored Pell Grant eligibility to confined or incarcerated individuals for the first time since 1994, on the condition that they be enrolled or accepted in an eligible prison education program (PEP), as described in Dear Colleague Letter GEN-23-05. Final rules (87 FR 65426, October 28, 2022; 34 CFR part 668, subpart P) took effect July 1, 2023. A PEP must be offered by a public or private nonprofit college approved by the state department of corrections or the Federal Bureau of Prisons (the 'oversight entity'), its credits must transfer to at least one college in the state, and after two years the oversight entity must review it and find that it is serving students' interests (34 CFR 668.236, 668.241). For-profit colleges can't offer PEPs. Incarcerated students may also receive FSEOG and Federal Work-Study if they qualify. The Education Department's 2026 rule on the new short-term Workforce Pell Grants (91 FR 29254) repeats that a confined or incarcerated person must be enrolled in a PEP to receive a Pell Grant. Ask your facility's education director whether a PEP is offered.

• While you are incarcerated you can't get federal student loans; the limits tied to incarceration end when you are released.^5,7,8

  34 CFR 668.32 requires that a student 'is not incarcerated' for the Perkins, FFEL and Direct Loan programs, and GEN-23-05 confirms incarcerated students remain ineligible for Direct Loans. Federal Student Aid says that once you are released the eligibility limitations related to incarceration are removed, and you may apply before release so aid is ready when you start school. Since April 16, 2024, people who are incarcerated but not enrolled as students may consolidate existing federal loans, for example to get out of default.

• Probation, parole, a halfway house, home detention, a weekends-only sentence or an involuntary civil commitment does not count as being incarcerated for federal aid.^3,9

  34 CFR 600.2 (as revised by the 2022 PEP rule and quoted in GEN-23-05) defines a confined or incarcerated individual as someone serving a criminal sentence in a federal, state or local penitentiary, prison, jail, reformatory, work farm, juvenile justice facility or similar facility, and excludes people subject to or serving an involuntary civil commitment, in a halfway house or home detention, or sentenced to serve only weekends. Effective July 1, 2023, the FAFSA Simplification Act removed the former HEA section 401(b)(6) ban on Pell Grants for people under an involuntary civil commitment after incarceration for a sexual offense. Federal Student Aid says people on probation or parole or living in a halfway house may be eligible for aid.

• The Common App removed its criminal history question from the shared application on August 1, 2019, but each member college may still ask on its own questions.^10,11

  Common App's August 19, 2018 announcement says criminal history collection would be removed from the 'common' portion and the School Report on August 1, 2019, while member institutions 'will continue to be able to collect criminal history information on their individual member screens if they so choose.' Students can see each college's approach on the college's search results details screen. Common App later removed the school discipline question from the common portion starting in the 2021-2022 season (announced September 30, 2020), and colleges may also ask that on their own questions.

• Some states limit whether colleges may ask about criminal history before admitting you.^12,13,14,15

  Maryland: an institution of higher education that receives state funds may not use an undergraduate admissions application that asks about criminal history (arrests or convictions), except a third-party application such as the Common App if the institution doesn't use it to disqualify applicants and posts a notice on its website that criminal history doesn't disqualify an applicant from admission (Education Article 26-501 to 26-503). Louisiana: public colleges may not ask about criminal history on the initial application or before the admission decision, except about convictions for stalking, cyberstalking, rape or sexual battery offenses (R.S. 17:3152(A), Acts 2017, No. 276, effective August 1, 2017). Louisiana public institutions, including the LSU health sciences centers and veterinary school, may also consider conviction history reported on a national application service built for admission to a specific degree program and used in several states (17:3152(C)(2)). Both states let colleges ask after admission for limited purposes such as campus housing or support services.

What can stand in the way

• Colleges that still ask may consider your record, and an answer that doesn't match a later background check can cause problems.¹⁰

  Common App member colleges may ask their own criminal history questions, and outside states with limits like Maryland's and Louisiana's there is no federal rule barring colleges from asking. Read each college's question carefully and answer exactly what it asks.

• Campus housing and campus activities can be limited after admission.^14,16

  Maryland lets colleges consider criminal history for campus residency, with a written process weighing age at the time, time elapsed, the nature of the record and rehabilitation, and allows a process to restrict housing for people convicted of sexual crimes or crimes of violence (Education 26-504, 26-505). Louisiana lets colleges ask after admission to decide on participation in campus life, weighing the nature and gravity of the conduct, time passed, age and rehabilitation (R.S. 17:3152(B)).

• A degree that leads to a license can be a dead end if your record bars the license, and prison education programs can't enroll you in such a program.^4,14

  A PEP may not enroll a student in a program preparing for an occupation from which federal or state law bars them because of their conviction, and colleges must check those prohibitions at least annually (34 CFR 668.236(a)(8), (c)). Louisiana bars public colleges from denying admission to or continuation in a licensure or teaching program based solely on criminal conviction history, but requires them to counsel students about the licensing requirement (R.S. 17:3152(C)(1)). Check the licensing rules for the job before you enroll.

• Defaulted federal student loans can block new aid.⁵

  Federal Student Aid tells incarcerated borrowers to keep loans out of default and points to consolidation as a way out of default; since April 16, 2024, incarcerated people who are not currently students may consolidate.

Waivers and exceptions

• You can file the FAFSA before release so aid is ready when you start; if you're incarcerated, Federal Student Aid points you to a paper FAFSA that you print and mail.⁸

  Federal Student Aid posts a FAFSA PDF for incarcerated students for each award year (2026-27 and 2027-28 are linked from its pages), which must be printed and mailed. Use a mailing address where you reliably get mail, which may be the facility, and update it after release. Federal Student Aid also says to file even if you think you're ineligible, because states and colleges use the FAFSA for their own aid.

• Financial aid administrators can adjust aid for special circumstances, including incarceration.³

  GEN-23-05 lists the FAFSA Simplification Act's expanded discretion for aid administrators to make adjustments for special or unusual circumstances, including incarceration, effective July 1, 2023.

• In Louisiana, a denial based on a listed sexual or stalking offense can be appealed.¹⁴

  R.S. 17:3152(A)(2): if a public college denies admission based on one of the convictions it may ask about, it must notify the applicant, who may appeal to the body that hears the institution's disciplinary matters.

How states handle it

Federal student aid rules are the same everywhere. Admission is up to each college, and a few states limit when colleges may ask about criminal history (for example Maryland and Louisiana). Prison education programs depend on which colleges partner with your state's department of corrections or the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

• Maryland

  Maryland bars state-funded colleges from using an undergraduate admissions application that asks about arrests or convictions, unless it's a third-party application (like the Common App) that the college doesn't use to disqualify applicants and the college posts a notice that criminal history doesn't disqualify anyone. After admission, a college may consider criminal history for campus housing, using a written process.¹²

• Louisiana

  Louisiana's public colleges may not ask about criminal history before the admission decision except about convictions for stalking, cyberstalking, rape or sexual battery offenses, and may not deny admission to a licensure or teaching program based solely on a conviction (R.S. 17:3152, effective August 1, 2017). Programs that admit through a national application service, such as the LSU health sciences centers, may consider conviction history reported on that application.¹⁴

What to do next

1. File the FAFSA (on paper with the incarcerated-student PDF if you're still inside). Drug convictions don't affect federal aid anymore.
2. If you're incarcerated, ask the facility's education director whether a college offers an approved prison education program there; that is the only way to use a Pell Grant while serving a sentence.
3. Before applying to a college, check whether it asks about criminal history on its own application questions and what it says it does with the answers; check your state's law too.
4. If a college asks, answer exactly what the question asks, and be ready to explain what happened and what you've done since (completed sentence, programs, work, references).
5. If you're aiming for a licensed job (nursing, teaching, law, health care, security), check that license's criminal-record rules before you enroll.
6. If you have defaulted federal student loans, look into consolidation or other ways out of default before you apply for new aid.
7. Ask the financial aid office about a special-circumstances adjustment if incarceration or release affects your finances.

Where to ask

• Federal Student Aid: students with criminal convictions

  Current federal aid rules for people who are incarcerated, released, or on probation or parole.

• Prison Education Programs (FSA Knowledge Center)

  Federal guidance on Pell Grants in prison education programs.

• Common App criminal history change

  Common App's 2018 announcement of the 2019 change.

Could clearing your record help?

In many states a sealed or expunged record no longer shows up on most background checks, though agencies and licensing boards can often still see it. See how record clearing works in your state.