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How Families Headed by Same-Sex Couples Fare in Student Aid

August 24, 2011, 11:22 am

Families headed by same-sex parents—and gay students who are married—are treated in convoluted ways by the federal financial-aid form because of how it determines who is counted as a parent and because the federal government does not recognize same-sex marriage. A new report from the Center for American Progress details those scenarios and makes policy recommendations on how to change them. The student-aid form, known as the Fafsa, also treats other families that differ from a 1950s norm in unusual ways. As this article illustrates, the aid form’s definitions can result in strange outcomes for students whose parents are divorced or remarried, too.

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  • mercy_my_own

    Exactly what is the purpose of this piece? I’ll tell you what, it’s a tickler to link us to 3 year old premium content that still costs money, despite its age. Please, do not recycle the news!

  • davidsheridan

    I’m sure this story will enrage many conservative lawmakers, and I have a solution. Grant civil rights to all Americans who wish to get married, and then everyone’s info will belong on the FAFSA. But in the meantime, the federal government’s wish to govern what goes on behind closed doors created this inequity, so it’s the federal government that will have to fix it or deal with thie consequences.

  • renellin

    You can’t grant civil rights. We don’t need everyone’s info on the FAFSA. Every kid has two parents. That is the deal. If you are filing a joint return, that is what will belong on the FAFSA. We don’t need to provide the government with any more information than is absolutely necessary. If you want the government out of your bedroom, please take your bedroom out of the news.

  • Guest

    Oh, give it a rest. Kids with same-sex coupled parents will have to go through some of the same hassles as kids of divorced, remarried, or single parents. If you want to make a plug for same-sex marriage, just make a plug for same-sex marriage instead of trying to build a silly circumstantial case like this. Here are some ideas for better gay politics: http://criticalnewsscan.blogspot.com/2011/08/how-to-reset-your-desktop-to.html

    In the meantime, I think the country needs to incentivize heterosexual couples raising children. It’s this crazy thing called healthy and normal. 

  • katisumas

    Pretty strange comment for a guy who has claimed on more than one occasion to be bi….. 

  • davidsheridan

    Legislatures sure can grant civil rights, and as the country that holds itself up as the beacon of all which is just and fair and free, they damn well should.  I’m straight, so my bedroom doesn’t make the news.  But I don’t believe that my gay friends have intended that, they just want the freedom and justice for all that we’ve always heard so much about.

    Every kid has 2 parents…uh, where have you been?  And since the Feds don’t recognize both partners in a same-sex marriage as married, and their own rules for whose financial information goes on the FAFSA is driven by marital status…you’re right, no need to provide any more info than is necessary.  And if that results in some extra financial aid for some students, that’s a price society will have to pay until it, yes, grants civil rights to all its people.

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