Fighting for Financial Aid

Many students at UCLA find the Free Application for Federal Student Aid extremely daunting. When presented with the multiple-page application, consisting of over 100 questions, I turned to my parents for help.

But children of same-sex parents are presented with an even more challenging problem when filling out the FAFSA.

According to a recent New York Times article, students with same-sex parents do not have the option to cite that they have two legal mothers or fathers, which can either reduce or inflate the aid that they receive, depending on the financial situation of their parents.

Failing to include one person’s income on the FAFSA can give a student inflated aid, as income level is underreported.

Failing to include the fact that a student has two legal parents can reduce aid, as this second parent takes away from household income, yet the student is not receiving more aid.

Moreover, students who are in a same-sex marriage do not have the option to indicate that they have a same-sex partner, often reducing the aid that they receive.

This is because of the fact that the agency that issues FAFSA must comply with the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, which prohibits same-sex marriages from being federally recognized.

Already a confusing document, the FAFSA is clearly out of date, as it makes no accommodations to adapt to the changing compositions of families, including ones with same-sex parents.

The Department of Education needs to investigate possible solutions to this problem.

Moreover, as a public university system, the UC should provide support and education to both parents and students filling out the FAFSA.

The Financial Aid Office at UCLA hasn’t received any inquiries on this matter, according to Steve Ritea, a UCLA spokesman. However, this does not mean that students with same-sex parents don’t exist. Many may be afraid to get help filling out the FAFSA because they fear stigma and scrutiny.

It is unacceptable that this issue goes unnoticed and that the Financial Aid Office doesn’t even seem to be reaching out to students who are affected, but too fearful to speak up.

While individual universities can request additional information to provide financial context, the government should at least provide a supplement to the application that would allow students to accurately describe the financial composition of their family.

Giving students more aid than they should only takes away from other students’ aid. Giving students less aid than they should be receiving serves as a barrier to education. Neither situation is ideal.

The issue is not only financially harmful, but alarming based on principle. The FAFSA’s definition of a parent is either biological or adoptive. Because the federal government won’t recognize same-sex marriages, same-sex parents are forced to file as if they are divorced, according to Luke Boso, a law teaching fellow with the Williams Institute, a think tank that researches and discusses sexual orientation and gender identity issues.

Principally speaking, it can be traumatizing to realize that the government does not legally recognize one’s family.

Being forced to check a box (either mother/stepmother or father/stepfather) not only distorts the reality of the actual composition of some families today, but also leaves many students with a wounded dignity as they are forced to work within the confines of the system.

Many students self-correct on paper applications, having to write in the true composition of their family.

Regardless of what one believes the definition of a family should be, there is no denying that family composition is changing, and the FAFSA as well as the UC need to be kept up to date.

The UC could be doing more in the avenue of support, by providing materials to keep parents updated or by offering workshops as a source of information.

The LGBT center here on campus already serves as a resource to LGBT students, the community and allies. At the UC level, the center helps to provide better access for LGBT students and parents, according to Raja Bhattar, the director for the LGBT Campus Resource Center.

A center such as this, already working toward creating safe spaces, could be utilized to serve as a resource for students that have trouble filling out the FAFSA. If there is a need for such a service, workshops could be held, according to Bhattar.

Additionally, the Financial Aid Office should be doing more on its part to better address the needs of its students. The FAFSA is already confusing enough as it is, according to Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid and Fastweb. On top of this, there are no instructions for students that are faced with the situation of having same-sex parent, often leaving them puzzled.

By providing more information on how exactly to work within the strict guidelines, the Financial Aid Office would be breaking the barrier of fear and allow students to actively seek help.

Students with same-sex parents should be able to break down financial aid walls and receive the aid they deserve, regardless of family composition.

Do you think the UCLA FAO should do more for students with same-sex parents? Email Chu at [email protected]. Send general comments to [email protected].