If you are in college or you will soon be attending one, then you should know that getting a DUI conviction can increase your college expenses significantly. Here are some of the ways in which this can happen:

It Can Deny You Access to College Housing

Most colleges have limited housing opportunities, which they must have a way of trimming the least of qualified applicants to fit the available rooms. Most do this by demanding full upfront payment and dishing out the rooms on a first-come-first-serve basis. However, it is also normal to find a college that has a strict no-tolerance policy on criminal activities or convictions. If that is the case in your college, then you may be denied college housing the next time you are applying if you have been convicted of a DUI. This means you will have to contend with living outside the campus, and outside rent is typically higher than dorm rent.

It Can Lead To Loss of Scholarships

A DUI conviction can also disqualify you from a scholarship; many scholarship offers have limited funds that are managed by disqualifying those with criminal convictions. Even if you have already received a scholarship, you may be automatically dropped when a criminal conviction appears on your record. Another way in which a DUI case may interfere with your scholarship funding is by interfering with your grades (many of these offers require you to maintain a certain grade point average) and getting you disqualified from the scholarship.

It Can Prevent You from Getting Into the College of Your Choice

Some colleges do not look kindly to applications from students with criminal records. This is especially true with colleges with low admission percentages; in such cases, any negative thing in your application (and a DUI conviction is definitely negative) will hurt your chances of admission even if the college doesn't expressly state it as such. It's even worse if you lie about your criminal record and the college somehow finds out about it. This can affect you monetarily if you have to look for other colleges and the only ones who can accept you are more expensive than the one you initially wanted to get into.

It Can Prolong Your College Education

Lastly, a DUI conviction can also prolong your college life, and prolonged education usually means more funds spent on the same. Dealing with a DUI isn't easy; looking for a lawyer, getting arrested, meetings with your drunk driving defense lawyer and court appearances – all of these things can affect your academic performance. It's even worse if you are convicted and sentenced to jail (this is likely if it isn't your first DUI offense); you may even have to defer an academic semester or year.

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