Will a drug charge affect my student financial aid?

This is one of the more common outdated fears, and it's worth correcting directly.

Federal law formerly suspended student aid eligibility for drug convictions occurring while receiving aid, and the FAFSA asked about it. The FAFSA Simplification Act eliminated that question and that penalty. A drug conviction no longer disqualifies a student from federal aid on that basis.

What can still be affected: institutional policies at a particular school, some scholarships with their own conduct requirements, campus housing, and student conduct proceedings that run independently of the criminal case. Certain professional programs have their own admission and licensure standards.

So the answer changed, but it didn't become nothing. The federal aid question is resolved; the school's own policies are a separate inquiry worth making directly.