First Offense Marijuana Possession Charge

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Nebraska

A couple of days ago a cop pulled me over and found a couple buds I had in my pickup and gave me a citation for possession of marijuana. My questions are

1. Is this considered a misdemeanor? I don't see misdemeanor anywhere on the ticket just citation.

2. I can pay the $300 dollar fine and avoid going to court all together but is this the best thing to do or should I go to court?

3. I go to school and I'm worried about losing my financial aid will I lose this?

4. How long would this stay on my record? I'm worried about future jobs and this being on my record.

Oh and I'm not a minor so I believe any kind of diversion plan is out of the question, but I might be wrong. Any help would be greatly appreciated I've been losing some sleep over this.

1) It is not a misdemeanor. It is a civil citation, which holds about as much weight as a traffic ticket - you have to pay the fine, but it's not a criminal offense. See here.

2) Just pay the fine.

3) Probably not.

4) It's civil, so no record. THIS TIME. Get busted again, you'll get a misdemeanor charge and a permanent record.

I talked to one of my law teachers and she said to talk to a lawyer about getting a suspended imposition on this. This means going to court and spending even more money and I'm wondering if trying to get a suspended imposition is worth the time and money.

She said I shouldn't have any trouble with my financial aid and that on most job applications it only says to list felony's and misdemeanors.

Why would you do that? Again, this is a civil matter. The only punishment this carries is a fine. No jail, no probation, no criminal record.

The only caveat is that you don't dare get busted with pot again, but this is handled easily enough by not toting pot around. Rocket science, this ain't.

Well I was looking over the FAFSA and it says to list ANY drug convictions not just misdemeanors or felonys. It said to count only federal and state convictions. If i just pay the fine I would be convicted in my state, NE, and possibly have my financial aid taken away, at least thats what I'm getting from this.

http://thefafsa.org/drugconviction.htm

Im also already in school and recieving funding.

If I recall correctly, the FAFSA asks if you have been convicted of any criminal drug offenses.

If the wording asks for criminal offenses, you can answer No, because this is a civil offense. If it asks for "any", without specifying, then you should check with an attorney to be sure, but I'm given to understand that they don't ask after civil offenses.