Transfer to another University after expulsion

Parents Forum
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My son made a very poor decision and is facing expulsion from his university for a felony charge. He is currently incarcerated for 6 months. He had just 6 months remaining to obtain his undergraduate degree and was already taking graduate courses to obtain his masters. I repeat - a very poor decision - and he is well very aware just how poorly his decision was and is very remorseful.

I came here because I am trying to help him pick up the pieces and move on to obtain his degree when the time comes. Since he is incarcerated, he does not have access to research anything at this time and he is extremely anxious to move on in life. It’s already been determined that he most likely cannot return to his university (ever) to finish his degree. Which is probably just as well; he needs a fresh start although it will bring a whole set of challenges for him. He had no prior issues at the university and held a 3.2 GPA. He has worked summers and breaks and is a bright and highly motivated individual.

I’m trying to get a handle on the possibility of other universities accepting him after being expelled from his university. Should he wait for a certain period of time before applying elsewhere? I will begin researching individual universities he will likely consider right off the bat but thought it might be helpful to gain some insight here first.

We are very disappointed his current university is not willing to give him a second chance, especially considering that he is so far along in his studies and had no prior offenses - ever. He is not a bad person. He is not dangerous to anyone. He made a poor decision. Should this truly disqualify him from being given a second chance?

Thank you in advance for any constructive feedback. If you feel this should be posted on an alternate forum - please let me know.

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I have absolutely no advice to offer, but did want to welcome you and offer a virtual hug.

This parenting thing is not for the weak of heart!!

Here’s hoping he finds a school where he’ll be able to pick up the pieces and move forward towards attaining his dreams.

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I don’t know the answer to your question but it would seem that this is one of those situations in which a professional CC could be super helpful. @Hanna ?

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Thank you. I’m wide open to any and all recommendations. This situation has thrown us into a world we are very unfamiliar with.

5

Some ideas: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1698284-list-of-colleges-that-accept-transfer-after-suspension-expulsion-p1.html

6

It may be worth your time to have a formal consultation with the dean at his current/former institution. That person is likely to have dealt with this kind of situation before, and can talk you through options remaining to him there, as well as give useful advice about options elsewhere. You also should speak with his major advisor, the head of his department, and the coordinator of the grad program he was pursuing. They know him as a student, and should have ideas about where else he might be able to complete his degree(s) if he is not able to return. Ask about comleting his current degree program(s) long-distance. Would he be able to do that by correspondence or online? Find out whether this particular felony conviction will mean that he cannot earn any licenses that are necessary for work in his professional field. Should that be his situation, which careers could he easily transition into given his current academic record?

@fauxmaven has a child who was convicted and served time for a felony after finishing college. Their situations are a bit different from yours and your son’s, but that parent may have useful ideas dor you.

Wishing you all the best in this tough situation.

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I’m assuming this incident happened on campus if he was academically dismissed over it. Normally colleges don’t regulate off-campus activities unless he’s an athlete. Getting back into college would depend on the university he applies for, but he’ll lose a lot of credits. The biggest obstacle will be prospective employers. They do criminal background checks and drug tests. Depending on the severity of the incident, his records might be sealed, but you would need to talk to an attorney about that.

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The usual advice for an expelled student is to seek out “open admissions” colleges, which don’t require you to be “in good standing.” Those are often community colleges, which probably won’t have many classes for this student to take given he was almost finished with college. Then once the student is in good standing again, a transfer is possible.
OP, you would be interested in the ongoing “ban the box” movement in which colleges are being encouraged to no longer ask about a student’s criminal history on the application.

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He should also keep in mind that many colleges require a minimum of 60 credits/2 years of attendance before they will grant a diploma so that is a question he would have to ask of any schools he considers.

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Some of the answer will probably depend on the type of bad choice it was. Certain types of bad choices - sexual assault, drug dealing would be examples that come to mind - will be tougher for colleges to accept and only time will help. Once he’s released, if he continues without any further incident and develops a history of community service, after 3-5 years there may be more places that would be willing to overlook a prior felony.

One issue you also may want to research relates to financial aid and loans. If you can pay 100% of his college costs it’s a nonissue, but I believe that there are some student aid and loan programs for which a felony of certain types (drugs) means the student is not eligible.

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" He made a poor decision. Should this truly disqualify him from being given a second chance?"

Hard to know how to answer this without knowing the nature of the bad choice. Some bad choices present threats to other students or the college and some don’t. People will have more specific advice and better information if you choose to share what happened.

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In NJ, we have Thomas Edison State College which says “Thomas Edison State University has one of the most flexible transfer credit policies in the country.”

It’s goal is: Thomas Edison State University was established by the State of New Jersey and chartered by the New Jersey Board of Higher Education in 1972. The University was founded for the purpose of providing diverse and alternative methods of achieving a collegiate education of the highest quality for mature adults

https://www.tesu.edu/admissions/transfer-credit

Thomas Edison State University has one of the most flexible transfer credit policies in the country.

If you studied at a regionally accredited four-year institution, you may transfer and apply up to 117 credits.

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Thank you all for your responses. Without too much detail - the charge was drug related (sale of Xanax) which he was involved in for 4 months – no prior offenses and in good academic standing (academics were never an issue). Totally driven by the opportunity to make money when finances were tight. The charge is expungeable from his record after a certain period of time. Thankfully, no addiction issues for him to deal with. His work is cut out for him finding the right fit (college) moving forward to finish his degree. Please feel free to add further feedback now that more details have been provided. Thank you.

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Thank you so much for your advice. I certainly appreciate it and will reach out to @fauxmaven on his/her experience.

15

From one mom to another - I’m so sorry you’re going through this. It is so painful when our kids are hurting. I’m glad your son has you to support and help him and hope that you have similar help and support.

Here’s a link describing how drug convictions impact federal financial aid: https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/eligibility/criminal-convictions

It’s great that he has no addiction issues; that will make any rehab or clean testing requirements easy. He should definitely pursue getting the conviction expunged when that’s possible.

I don’t have any good ideas on which college he might be able to get into with this type of conviction. Time, continued clean living and possibly even a track record of volunteering in anti-drug or rehab type nonprofits may help, though. Even places that would be very leery of taking a chance on someone newly released might be willing to consider someone who has for several years remained drug and conviction free and who volunteers in anti-drug organizations.

16

He’ll need to keep his nose clean in prison, of course. He should get involved in volunteer work (perhaps even while he’s serving his sentence) that is related to helping others, ideally related somehow to his crime. He may want to take a serious pause between his sentence and returning to school, and do this volunteer work hardcore. He should continue to do it once he returns to school. These actions are things he can talk about with schools, including grad schools, as positive things he’s done related to what’s happened, and that can help him in terms of admissions (and in life.) And many colleges will want him to take some time (a year or longer) between his sentence and when he joins them, and to do good things in that time, so a break is something to seriously consider.

He’s currently lost his access to federal financial aid, but there are ways he can get that reinstated. Others have mentioned the financial aid issue, and given links, so you know what he needs to do re: that. Depending on when in the term he was forced to stop attending classes, he may also owe some money directly to his former university, which he’ll need to pay off before he can transfer. That’s something he/you can check into with the bursar’s office.

As others mentioned, many universities require students to spend at least a year with them, if not two, before they get their degree. Even those that do not may not accept his transfer credits smoothly. It’s likely he’ll have more than a term to complete once he does transfer, so he shouldn’t get frustrated should that happen.

There is another issue he may need to think about - whether or not his planned future career will be impacted by this felony, even if it’s expunged, and/or by the expulsion. For example, if he’d planned to go into nursing, he may not be able to be licensed in many states. So he may need to give some thought and do some research into this. What field was he hoping to go into?

With all that said, I have had convicted felons in my classes, including with dealing convictions. It is possible for him to pick himself up from this and move forward, to return to a university and go to grad school, so take heart.

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MODERATOR’S NOTE:
I moved this to the Parent’s Forum. But since I’m posting a message, the OP is asking a valid question regarding her and her son. Feel free to offer advice. Here, however, is what not to offer and which I had to delete;
• Judgement of her parenting
• Judgement on the son
• Anecdotes about what happened with your cousin’s sister-in-law’s roommate 100 years ago when she was an undergrad.

Please remember one of the top, if not the top guiding principles of this site:

http://www.collegeconfidential.com/policies/rules/

Several posts deleted.

18

Last year I went to a seminar in which Janet Napolitano, the President of the University of California was talking about UC Berkeley’s Underground Scholar’s Initiative (USI) hich helps formerly incarcerated students navigate higher education and find a community. There is a documentary profiling the experiences of four former inmates – From Incarceration to Education – that was produced by one of the students in that program.

I’ve also read about initiatives to “ban the box” on inquiring about prior convictions on college apps and several states have chosen to do exactly that (U. Maryland comes to mind).

Your son may lose some credits along the way to satisfy minimum residency requirements for transfers, but hopefully he’ll find some good options.

19

People make mistakes…and sometimes they are big ones.

I think you might be well advised to talk to his lawyer about the time frame for getting this expunged from his record.

Look into the school listed above that has the very liberal transfer admissions policies.

You say he is taking masters level courses now. I don’t know if this is possible, but might he be able to complete a masters without ever completing his bachelors? He might want to discuss this option with someone involved in his current masters classes program.

In any event, he will need to choose his major and possible career choice wisely. Some employers require a very significant background check…so careers in those fields probably should be avoided for now, anything with a security clearance might be problematic as well.

But really…folks do get second chances.

Is there anything he really enjoys doing on his own…photography or something else where he could be self employed?

@Hanna any advice?

But really…suggest that he talk to someone involved in those masters classes. They might be able to point him in the right direction in terms of college.

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I did explain in further detail but it appears to have been removed due to inappropriate response received.