How many deferments did biden have

1. The simple answer: five student deferments, then a 1‑Y medical classification

Public records and contemporaneous reporting show Biden obtained five education-related student deferments while enrolled at the University of Delaware and later at Syracuse Law, with the last student deferment issued in January 1968, and that in April 1968 a physical led to a Selective Service classification of 1‑Y based on asthma as a teenager — a status that meant he would be drafted only in a national emergency and effectively removed him from regular induction pools ^{[2] [3] [1]}.

2. What those labels mean: student deferments vs. medical disqualification

During the pre‑1971 draft system a 2‑S or similar student deferment postponed induction for as long as a man remained a full‑time student in satisfactory progress, which is the category Biden used five times; the later 1‑Y classification was a Selective Service determination related to medical history (asthma) that limited draft eligibility rather than describing another student deferment ^{[1] [4]}.

3. How the record has been politicized and misconstrued

Opponents and some social posts have framed Biden’s record as “five deferments for asthma” to suggest deliberate draft avoidance, a characterization fact‑checkers and news outlets say is misleading because the deferments were education‑based and the asthma classification came after those deferments; fact‑checking outlets including PolitiFact and Snopes summarize this distinction and rate the health‑excuse claim as inaccurate or misleading ^{[1] [4]}.

4. Documentary evidence and campaign explanations

Primary documents cited in reporting — including Selective Service questionnaires and campaign disclosures — show the timing: an initial student classification in late 1963 while at the University of Delaware, additional annual student deferments through law school, a final student deferment in January 1968, and an April 1968 physical that produced the 1‑Y asthma classification; campaign spokespeople at the time acknowledged the asthma-based 1‑Y status while emphasizing the student deferments ^{[2] [3] [5] [1]}.

5. Comparisons, context, and why the distinction matters

Political comparisons to other politicians who received multiple deferments—routinely invoked in media and campaign attacks—amplify the story: reporting noted Biden’s five student deferments matched the number attributed to figures like Dick Cheney, while later analyses and historians place both student deferments and medical classifications in the broader context of how draft policy treated college students and medical histories in the 1960s ^{[6] [7] [3]}.

6. Limits of the available reporting and what remains unaddressed

The assembled sources document the count and sequence (five student deferments, then a 1‑Y asthma classification) but do not publish, in every instance, a line‑by‑line list of each deferment’s paperwork or the full Selective Service file in one consolidated public report; FOIA archives include draft card images and Selective Service entries but some granular internal deliberations or contemporaneous medical records are not reproduced in the cited news summaries ^{[5] [1]}.

7. Bottom line for the record

Fact‑checking organizations and multiple news outlets converge on the same factual core: Joe Biden received five student deferments while in college and law school, then was classified 1‑Y for a history of asthma in April 1968 — the accurate framing is “five student deferments and a subsequent 1‑Y medical classification,” not “five deferments for asthma” ^{[1] [2] [4]}.