The federal Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form asks applicants to list their “mother/stepmother” and “father/stepfather.” But applying for aid, if you have same-sex parents, isn’t just a matter of crossing one of those out and writing in the correct term, says Tara Siegel Bernard of the New York Times in her piece, “How to File for Financial Aid if Your Parents Are Gay.”
Bernard writes in “How to File” that “the amount and type of aid provided to students uses a formula that takes the entire family unit into account—including the parents and students’ marital status. And the Department of Education said it relies on the federal definition of marriage (one man, one woman).”
Bernard provides a number of tips from financial aid expert Mark Kantrowitz, who describes what to do if you have: a) two legal parents; b) two legal parents who are no longer together; c) only one legal parent; or if you are: d) a student married to a same-sex partner; and e) a gay or lesbian student whose parents refuse to provide support.
The piece goes along with her more descriptive “None of the Above,” which describes in more detail how the current financial aid process impacts children of same-sex parents.
Go read them both, especially if you have kids approaching college age.
What’s interesting about the articles that doesn’t seem to come up is that (in my financial aid application experiences) FAFSA is just one of many forms that colleges have you fill out, or perhaps specifically private colleges. All bets are off for other forms such as the PROFILE and forms specific to the institution. My partner and I have both recently been applying for financial aid whilst same-sex married, one of us in the state where we were married and the other in a neighboring state where it is not recognized. In the end, though the FAFSA was filled out as though we are roommates, our financial aid officers requested we fill the others out as married.
The bottom line for private colleges has seemed to be that they have much more freedom in how they look at your sources of income and can include many more individuals. (e.g. despite my age, marriage and living 2000 miles away from parents who no longer provide financial support for many years, my graduate school took into account parents’ income, which the public equivalent would not have).
Thanks for the insight, Kelsey. I imagine you may be right, in that private colleges may have more flexibility (just as private employers can offer benefits to same-sex partners).
Interesting, I never thought about this before. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.