The U.S. airstrike in Iraq that killed an Iranian general led to a lot of people searching for answers on Friday about FAFSA, or the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
While President Donald Trump declared the military action was meant to "stop a war" and not start one, by Friday afternoon, online searches for "draft" and FAFSA spiked more than 4,000 percent, according to Google Trends data.
One thing that likely prompted all the questions were social media posts reminding people that to receive federal student aid, they had to register with Selective Service.
Some took a lighter approach and joked whether it was too late to unregister and return their financial aid.
But all those tweets, along with the tense situation in the Middle East, has led to all sorts of misinformation spreading about FAFSA, Selective Service and a potential draft.
First things first, there is no draft in the U.S. currently.
As the official FAFSA Twitter account explained, the U.S. military has been an all-volunteer force since 1973 and in order for a draft to be started up again, Congress would have to pass legislation and Trump would have to approve it.
FAFSA also noted that just because you signed up for Selective Service while filling out your FAFSA form, that doesn't mean you'd be more likely to be drafted than someone who didn't receive financial aid. That's because U.S. law requires all males to register with Selective Service within 30 days of turning 18.
The Selective Service blamed "the spread of misinformation" for its website experiencing high traffic volumes on Friday.
For its part, the Selective Service tried to dampen some of the draft fears on Friday as well by saying it was "conducting business as usual."
