However, if they are released before their 26th birthday they must register within 30 days of their release.

Other exceptions include:

• Non-immigrants visiting the US on student or visitor visas and men who are part of a diplomatic or trade mission and their families.
• Citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, or the Republic of Palau.
• Noncitizens who first entered the US after turning age 26.
• Noncitizens who entered the US as lawful non-immigrants on a valid visa and remained in the US on the terms of that visa until after they turned 26. (The date of entry on Form I-94 will be relevant.)
• Student is not yet 18. (For federal aid purposes, if a student is not yet 18 years old as of the date the FAFSA form is submitted, he is eligible for federal student aid this award year even if he turned 18 shortly afterward and has not yet registered. Such a student would need to register to be eligible for federal student aid in subsequent years.)

Sex Change Operations

The requirement to register depends on the sex listed on the student's birth certificate. Individuals who are born female and undergo a sex change operation are not required to register. Individuals who are born male and undergo a sex change operation are required to register. (If the draft is instituted, males who have had a sex change operation may file a claim for exemption from military service.)

It is unclear what the rules are when a student is born a hermaphrodite. In most cases, however, surgical intervention occurs soon after birth and the hermaphrodite is listed as female on the birth certificate.

Although students who are born female and become male are not required to register, they may run into data match problems. Such students may want to register if they became male during the 18-26 year old period, simply to avoid running into problems.

Note that the name listed on the FAFSA form should always be the student's current legal name. Anything else will cause a mismatch with the records of the Social Security Administration. A student should only use his or her new name after he or she finishes getting a legal name change and has notified the Social Security Administration.

What If You Didn't Register and It's Now Too Late?

Male students who did not register with the Selective Service and are now age 26 or older are ineligible for Federal student aid and other Federal and state benefits. There are only a few options for regaining eligibility, and they depend on showing that either the student was not required to register, or that the failure to register was not knowing and willful.

If the student was not required to register, he will need to obtain a status information letter from Selective Service. This letter will indicate whether the student was or was not required to register. To obtain such a letter, call 1-847-688-6888 (stay on the line until the operator answers) or write to Selective Service System, PO Box 94638, Palatine, IL 60094-4638 and ask for a status information letter.

The student will need to describe, in detail, the circumstances that prevented him from registering (e.g., hospitalization, institutionalization, incarceration, military service) and provide documentation of those circumstances. The documentation should be specific as to the dates of the circumstances. (For example, if the student served in the military and was released before age 26, he would still have been required to register within 30 days of his release.) If the student was not a US citizen, he will need to provide documentation of when he entered the United States. The student should also provide his name, Social Security Number, date of birth, and mailing address.

A Request for Status Information Letter form and instructions can be found on the Selective Service web site.

If the student did not satisfy any of the criteria for a waiver of the registration requirement, the student will need to show by a preponderance of evidence that his failure to register was not knowing and willful. The term "preponderance of evidence" refers to the standard of proof used in civil litigation, where the evidence for a fact is of greater weight or more convincing than conflicting evidence. In other words, the probability that the assertion is true must be greater than 50%.

The best evidence is original documentation, especially when it is first hand documentation produced at the time of the event. In other words, direct evidence is better than indirect or circumstantial evidence. Examples of direct evidence include a birth certificate, a date of entry stamp in a passport, and a certificate of mailing. It is best if the source of the evidence is an independent disinterested third-party. For example, a signed statement by the student is a fairly weak form of evidence, although it can shed light on the student's situation and his sincerity. Positive evidence is better than negative evidence, since it is very hard to prove a negative. Original documentation is better than a copy.

Accordingly, it is in the student's best interest to provide as much evidence as possible and in as much detail as possible.

The final decision regarding eligibility is made by the financial aid administrator, not the Selective Service. The Selective Service only makes a determination as to whether the student was required to register, not whether the failure to register was knowing and willful. The financial aid administrator's decision is final and cannot be appealed to the US Department of Education. The US Department of Education will only hear appeals from students who have provided their schools with a status information letter demonstrating compliance (i.e., that they registered or that they are exempt from registration) but are still being denied aid based on the registration requirement.

For students who were required to register, the financial aid administrator will base his or her decision on whether the failure to register was:

1. Knowing. Was the student aware of the requirement to register or not? If the student knew about the requirement to register, was he misinformed about the applicability of the requirement to him (e.g., veterans who were discharged before their 26th birthday were occasionally told that they did not need to register)? On which date did the student first learn that he was required to register? Where did the student live when he was between the ages of 18 and 26? Does the status information letter indicate that Selective Service sent letters to the student and did not receive a response?
2. Willful. Was the failure to register done deliberately and intentionally? In other words, did the student have the mental capacity to choose whether or not to register and decided not to register?

In addition to the status information letter, the financial aid administrator may also require a signed statement from the student explaining why he did not register and independent third party documentation of any unusual circumstances or facts pertaining to the student's failure to register. It is very important to provide sufficient documentation, since many financial aid administrators will deny the request for an override without documentation. A signed statement on its own is often not sufficient to justify awarding of federal student aid. (Frankly, many financial aid administrators find it hard to believe that a student was not aware of the requirement, given the extensive publicity by Selective Service.)

Ultimately, the decision will depend on whether the financial aid administrator believes the student and the student has credibly argued that his failure to register was either not knowing or not willful.

The most common examples where financial aid administrators have granted an override include the following. Please note that each situation is reviewed individually.

• Student served in the Armed Forces on full-time active duty, was released under a condition other than dishonorable before his 26th birthday, and either assumed or was misinformed about not being required to register.
• Student tried to enlist in the military, but was turned down, and didn't realize that enlisting and registering for Selective Service are different requirements.
• Student was kidnapped by a parent in a custody battle, and that parent prevented the student from registering.
• Parents were illegal aliens and kept the student unaware of the requirement to register.
• Student claims he was not aware of the requirement and lived abroad for the entire period from age 18 through age 26.
• Student was aware of the requirement, but incorrectly believed that the requirement did not apply to him because he is his parent's only child or because all of his parent's other children are already serving in the armed forces.
• Student documents that he did submit a registration. (During the mid to late 1990s, data for some students who tried to register for Selective Service using the FAFSA form was never transmitted to Selective Service. In particular, data for students who had not yet reached their 18th birthday was never transmitted to Selective Service. A documented attempt to register demonstrates that the failure to register was not willful.)

Schools are much less likely to grant an override when the excuse is ignorance of the requirement without extenuating circumstances. Likewise if the student failed to register because of an error made by the student, such as thinking that registering to vote automatically registered one for selective service. But on the whole, schools tend to be lenient when the excuse is reasonable and they believe the student is being honest.

If the student insists that he registered but the Selective Service web site disagrees, the student will need to provide documentation of the attempt to register, such as a photocopy of the registration form. Occasionally the Selective Service database will have the student's information recorded under a different date of birth or social security number. This can happen when there are digit transpositions in the social security number or the month and day are swapped. The financial aid administrator should ask the student for a copy of their social security card and birth certificate, and then call Selective Service to ask for a name search.