[BHS etree] COLLEGE: Information on Selective Service Registration & Federal Financial Aid

[bhs at idiom.com]

Information on requirements for males to register with the Selective Service
by the age of 18.

Contact: Ilene Abrams at <iabrams at berkeley.k12.ca.us>.

A question came up at the financial aid night for senior parents regarding
whether a male student who registers as a conscientious objector will be
eligible for federal financial aid.  I called the Federal Student Aid
Information Center and was not able to get an answer to this question.
However, the Selective Service web site states the following:

"Virtually all men MUST REGISTER with Selective Service. The exceptions to
this rule are very few and include: nonimmigrant aliens on student, visitor,
tourist, or diplomatic visas; men on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces;
and cadets and midshipmen in the Service Academies and certain other U.S.
military colleges. All other men must register upon reaching age 18 (or
before age 26, if entering and taking up residence in the U.S. when already
older than 18).

DISABLED MEN, CLERGYMEN, AND MEN WHO BELIEVE THEMSELVES TO BE
CONSCIENTIOUSLY OPPOSED TO WAR MUST REGISTER BECAUSE THERE IS NO DRAFT IN
EFFECT, NOR IS THERE A PROGRAM TO CLASSIFY MEN AT THIS TIME. SHOULD THE
CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT REINSTATE A DRAFT, A CLASSIFICATION PROGRAM WOULD
BEGIN. (my emphasis)  Registrants would be examined to determine suitability
for military service, and they would also have ample time to claim
exemptions, deferments, or postponements. To be inducted, men would have to
meet the physical, mental, and administrative standards established by the
military services. Local Boards would meet in every American community to
determine exemptions and deferments for clergymen, ministerial students, and
men who file claims for reclassification as conscientious objectors."
(http://www.sss.gov/QA.HTM#quest4)

>From this, it seems clear that men do not even have the opportunity to
register as conscientious objectors unless and until the draft is
reinstituted or they are inducted into the military.  However, if male
students do not register with the Selective Service, they will not be
eligible for federal financial aid.

Another site that provides helpful information on this issue is
<www.objector.org>.