The following information has been extracted from the Department of Education's Student Financial Aid Handbook, Volume 1, Chapter 5. Students, parents, and financial aid officers, colleges and universities registrars may find the information helpful in determining a man's requirements for financial aid in connection to the applicant's Selective Service registration.
Any male required to register with Selective Service at any time must have done so to receive federal student aid.
Age and registration
The student can be registered with Selective Service as early as 30 days before his 18th birthday. If the student is too young, Selective Service will hold the registration until the student is within 30 days of his 18th birthday. Students 26 and older can’t be registered.
Gender and registration
Only persons assigned the sex of male at birth are required to register. If a student’s gender identity is now female but she was assigned the sex of male at birth, the student must register with the Selective Service System, unless one of the exemptions described in Student Financial Aid Handbook, Volume 1, Chapter 5 applies, regardless of subsequent sexual reassignment surgery or any other gender transition process. If a student’s gender identity is now male but he was assigned the sex of female at birth, the student is not required to register with Selective Service, regardless of subsequent sexual reassignment surgery or any other gender transition process.
Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) on Selective Service Registration
REGISTRARS, males exempted from the requirement to register with Selective Service include:
- males currently in the armed services and on active duty (this exception does not apply to members of the Reserve and National Guard who are not on active duty);
- males who are not yet 18 at the time that they complete their applications (an update is not required during the year, even if a student turns 18 after completing the application);
- males born before 1960;
- citizens of the Republic of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, or the Federated States of Micronesia*;
- noncitizens who first entered the U.S. after they turned 26;
- noncitizens who entered the U.S. as lawful nonimmigrants on a valid visa and remained in the U.S. on the terms of that visa until after they turned 26.
- transgender males who were assigned the sex of female at birth.
* A citizen or national of the Republic of the Marshall Islands or the Federated States of Micronesia who lives in the United States for more than one yearfor any reason except as a student or employee of the government of hishomeland must register.
There are certain less common situations in which registration isn’t necessary. Students who weren’t required to register prior to meeting one of these criteria and who meet a criterion for the entire time through the age of 25 qualify for the waiver if:
- they are unable to register due to being hospitalized, incarcerated, or institutionalized;
- they are enrolled in any officer procurement program at The Citadel, North Georgia College and State University, Norwich University, Virginia Military Institute, Texas A&M University, or Virginia Polytechnic and State University; or
- they are commissioned Public Health Service officers on active duty or members of the Reserve of the Public Health Service on specified active duty.
Financial Aid Officers:
If the student is clearly not required to register, you must document this, but do not have him request a status information letter from the Selective Service. You should only ask the student to provide such a letter to document an exemption from the requirement to register if it is not clear that he is exempt. For example, non-citizens who first enter the U.S. after the age of 26 aren’t required to register. Only those immigrant males who enter and live in the U.S. at ages 18–25 are required to be registered. If a male immigrant can show proof that he first entered the U.S. when he was past registration age, he is clearly not required to be registered, and no status information letter is needed. The student’s entry documentation is enough to show whether he was required to register.
Documentation for exempt non-citizens includes: proof of birth date on a passport, birth certificate, or U.S. driver’s license or state ID; proof of immigration date into the U.S. from an entry date stamp on the I-94 form or in the passport, or a letter from the USCIS indicating the entry date; and, for those here on a valid visa who are at least 18 and less than 26 years old, a student visa form (I-20) or other valid U.S. passport visa stamp on a foreign passport with expiration date (the dates must be from entry until after the male turned 26).
For more information
Volume 1, Chapter 5, of the Department of Education’s Student Financial Aid Handbook (2016-2017) relating to Selective Service registration:
Student Financial Aid Handbook, Volume 1, Chapter 5