When you face a DUI conviction for the first time, you may falsely believe that it is not a big deal because you had a clean record before this point.
However, even one DUI conviction could end up permanently altering your life. This is especially true if you intend to attend – or are already in – college.
Impacts on your college finances
The College Investor discusses how DUIs can potentially impact your experience in college. First, it is rare for colleges to expel a person for a DUI conviction, but it is not impossible. However, this more often happens in situations where the DUI conviction couples with other issues, like serious property damage or the injury or death of others.
Instead, many colleges will go the financial route and attempt to punish people convicted of DUI crimes through the revocation of financial aid and privileges. This can include the revocation of scholarships, awards, gifts or prizes and more.
On top of that, some colleges will bar a student from using on-campus housing, forcing them to go off-campus and pay for the full prices instead. Combined with a loss of aid, this can price many students out of attendance.
Changes to your career
Finally, some students may find it useless to attend college because their career of choice ends up blocked to them. Many fields do not hire people with a DUI on record. This includes government employment fields and jobs that work with children.
Thus, any DUI charge should get treated as the serious potential issue it is from the start and handled like one’s future could end up at stake.
