As a college student, staying in school until you graduate is of the utmost importance to you. You’ve invested tens of thousands of dollars in this process, if not more. You don’t want anything to jeopardize your future and your career.
But say you get a DUI on the way home from a social gathering with friends, and the officer says you are slightly over the legal limit. If you’re convicted on those DUI charges, is there a risk that you’ll be expelled from school? Could this be the end of your educational journey, on top of the fines you’ll have to pay and the other ramifications?
It likely depends on the school’s policy
There’s no legal mandate that students who are convicted on any sort of charge have to be removed from school. So this would not be a punishment added on by the court.
What you need to consider is your school’s own code of conduct. The policy that the school has created, which you agreed to follow when you enrolled, is what will dictate what happens to you. Many schools have conduct policies saying that students who are accused of illegal activity will either be removed or will have to go before the board to decide if they’ll be expelled. So, it is true that many college students get DUIs every year and stay in school, but it is potentially possible for you to be expelled if that’s what your school board decides.
All of this just underlines the very real ramifications of getting in trouble with the law, so you must know about all of your legal defense options when facing these charges.