FAFSA to include same-sex and unmarried parents

Starting next year, students applying for federal student aid must provide financial information about unmarried or same-sex parents who live together – a move officials say is likely to decrease the amount of aid awarded to them.

Previously, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid forms only collected information from both parents if they were married. Since the federal government only recognizes marriages between a man and a woman under the Defense of Marriage Act, students with same-sex parents only had to provide financial information for one parent.

Beginning with the 2014-2015 academic year, the U.S. Department of Education will begin requiring information on both legal parents of a dependent student – regardless of marital status – as long as the parents live together, said Ronald Johnson, the director of UCLA Financial Aid.

For instance, the change will apply to students with same-sex parents who are married under state law, said Jennifer Pizer, the law and policy project director of Lambda Legal and former director of the Williams Institute at UCLA. Lambda Legal is a nonprofit law firm that represents lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and advocates on LGBT issues.

Instead of listing only gender-specific terms like “mother” and “father,” the new application will use the terms “Parent 1” and “Parent 2” as options to accommodate same-sex couples, according to a press release from the Department of Education.

Because the new applications will consider the combined income of both parents of a dependent student, the FAFSA change can result in decreased federal aid for the student when both parents are expected to pay into the child’s college costs.

“These changes will allow us (to determine) what a student’s whole family is able to contribute and ensures that our limited taxpayer resources are better targeted towards those students and families who have the most need,” said Arne Duncan, the U.S. Secretary of Education, according to a transcript of a conference call with members of the media last week.

Johnson said students should know that the change is not geared toward lowering financial aid, but improving accountability and reducing confusion when students whose parents are the same sex apply for aid.

“The whole premise is that the family has the primary responsibility to pay for college, and financial aid is the vehicle to help pay for college,” Johnson said. “This change is meant to correctly assess financial strength.”

Additionally, the change is part of a process to treat and assess all families equally at a time when there is an increasing number of same-sex marriages, Johnson said.

While the expected contribution from same-sex couples is expected to rise under the change, these couples still do not share the same legal benefits and obligations as opposite-sex couples, Pizer said.

The Defense of Marriage Act restricts same-sex couples from receiving the same legal benefits, such as employment protections and tax exemptions, and inter-state marriage recognition as opposite-sex couples.

Although it is understandable for people to feel that this policy change looks unfair for same-sex couples, Pizer said the goal of equality is a step-by-step process in which the obligations may need to come first before the privileges.

“Policy has moved forward in many states (whether) it is a disadvantage or advantage for same-sex couples, whether it is a benefit or an obligation,” Pizer said. “Equality has always been about equal treatment (whether) it is favorable or even unfavorable for same-sex couples.”

The Department of Education does not have specific figures on the number of dependent students impacted by the change or the amount of aid it will likely decrease, Duncan said in the conference call.

Still, the new stipulation will not impact many students, including those students who are financially independent from their parents, Duncan said.

Students with divorced parents who reside separately will not be impacted by the FAFSA change. These students will continue to only report the financial information of the parent they live with.

Carlos Juarez, a fourth-year sociology student, said he thinks the pool of students eligible for aid will decrease, and not for the better.

Other students said they understand the change and the need to ensure accurate information about a family’s ability to pay for college.

“A family’s financial information can get skewed if it accounts for only one parent,” said Anuved Verma, a second-year physiological sciences and economics student. “Students should be getting federal support if they actually need it.”