When lawmakers first created the FAFSA, in , no state recognized civil unions or domestic partnerships between same-sex couples, let alone the freedom to marry. Ten states and the District of Columbia currently confer the rights and responsibilities to same-sex couplesโand that number increasing.
Recognizing this changing landscape, the U. Department of Education announced a small but significant change to the FAFSA that will make the application a more fair, efficient tool for students seeking financial aid to help pay for their college education. Starting in the Department of Education will begin collecting demographic and financial information about families headed by same-sex parents to determine eligibility for and amounts of Pell Grants and federal student loans.
Each year more than 20 million families complete the FAFSA, and these families do not necessarily all have the same family structures that the FAFSAโwith its roots in the sโpresumes.
Below we take a look at the changes to the FAFSA, what they mean for families with same-sex parents, and remaining issues for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBT, applicants. In other words, the current FAFSA puts these applicants in a lose-lose scenario, forcing them to complete and submit an application that does not accurately reflect their family structure and that is therefore inaccurate. This change mirrors similar changes made by other federal agencies. In , for example, the U.
Department of State initiated reforms to give passport application forms a more gender neutral parental designation. Doing so required minimal changes to federal forms while significantly enhancing the accuracy, fairness, effectiveness, and efficiency of government operations.
