The Department of Education on Friday announced it will recognize same-sex marriages for the purpose of students filling out the “marital status” question on the FAFSA, the federal student aid form.
The new guidance from the department said students or their parents will be considered legally married for the purposes of the form if they were legally married in any jurisdiction that recognizes their marriage.
In April 2013, the department made another revision about marital status on the form. It announced that it would start to collect income and other information from both parents of a dependent student regardless of their marital status or gender as long as the parents live together. That meant that the form adds a new option: “unmarried and both parents living together.” It also will use “Parent One” and “Parent Two” instead of “mother” and “father.”
The FAFSA form will be released on Jan. 1 for the 2014-15 school year. Information required on the form is used to calculate a students’ eligibility for federal need-based financial aid.
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