How likely would a denial for a Secret clearance be if someone took classes for 4-5 months while also receiving unemployment benefits 7 years ago? The rest of their SF86 form is great with great references but that is one bad skeleton to find. Any thoughts?
Not very likely that it would be uncovered. But if you are worried about it why don;t you contact the state unemployment office from where you received the benefit and ask how you would go about paying it back.
I thought about that but worried even more once I did the research to find out how to pay it back. There were mentions of committing fraud, being sent to jail, or put on probation on top of paying back the money. I thought these possible outcomes would seem worse than if I just admitted my guilt on paper or in the face to face… I will make the phone call but if you have any other thoughts on this I’d appreciate it. Maybe I am overly worried since this would be my first Engineering job out of school and I really want it.