MMJ card & student loans/financial aid

i hold a MMJ card here in Colorado, I also just got student loans for college....at a medical institute at that....

 

No that's flatly untrue.


A drug conviction will make you ineligible for most federal subsidized loans

 

No there's no official documentation, your MMJ records are federally protected by HIPAA regulations. However, there are no discrimination protections for MMJ patients in most states either. So unfortunately there is a very real chance that IF somehow it is found out that you have a recommendation - such as if you are ever arrested and have to go to court, even though your case may be tossed, it will show on a background check and you may lose your funds.

IN other words, if your wife is concerned, then there's nothing we can provide you to dissuade that concern, because it HAS happened before and could happen again.

 

First, Sallie Mae is private. You won't have ANY problems getting a Sallie Mae loan based on drug convictions. They don't even ask you about it on the application.

Second, WildWill is right. Your records about MMJ are completely confidential, until/unless you get arrested on drug charges. Then you're fucked. ANY drug convictions on your record automatically disqualifies you from any and every loan or grant from the government (and you may have to pay back some grants if you've received them and then got convicted).

If you are going to get your card, my advice is (as is everyone I've talked to, at least in Oregon) to keep it secret. Keep it on a need-to-know basis, that way you don't have to worry about it spreading behind your back to the wrong folks. Think of it like medicine (since it is, lol) in that the vast majority of people you know don't need to know your medical history or the prescriptions you're currently taking...why would they need to know that you use cannabis medically?

Next, is to follow the law to the T. Don't give yourself even a slim possibility of arrest, period. Be smart about this, okay. I know how great it is to get your card and not worry about paranoia, but it still isn't fully legal and that needs to be taken into account.

Good luck, man. I hope this helps.

 

I wanna say that it's question 35 on the fafsa. It's asking about convictions. So unless you have a conviction, you're good to go.

Also, I've read about many cases in which an addendum attached to the application has cleared the way for fin aid in spite of a conviction, but that's a discretionary matter and you'd be at their mercy on that one.

No conviction=no problem. Just answer the questions and don't give them information that they're not specifically asking for you'll be fine.