<p>I am not sure how this works, if anyone with experience or knowledge of this situation I would appreciate your input.</p>
<p>My daughter is a senior, with good stats. She is looking at colleges in Southern California and we will need financial aid, however I am not sure how to fill out the financial aid paperwork. </p>
<p>I have a domestic partner, we have been registered with the State of California for over 5 years. I file my federal taxes as a head of household and claim my daughter, my partner and I then file state taxes as married (which is required in California). We own a home together but have no equity ($250K mortgage, $115K value). We have no savings or investments. My partner and I each own our own car (both are over 5 years old).</p>
<p>I think that for the FAFSA and CSS Profile that since they only ask for your 1040 information that I would not include my partner's income. When they note family members they specify that they should be dependants of mine, so I don't think I would include her. Obviously this would be an advantage to us, however I am not looking to cheat the system and will include my partner's income where ever they ask for it.</p>
<p>Actually we are hoping for big merit aid as my D has some good stats and we have no savings and will not be able to afford to pay very much for college.</p>
<p>Well, if you look at the other thread in this section, a woman posted that the FAFSA won’t accept the info for her partner (who is also the legal parent) because of DOMA. So, it looks like your partner’s income/assets won’t be considered at least on FAFSA. </p>
<p>If your parner isn’t the legal parent of your child, I don’t know why you’d have to include her info on your CSS profile…but others might chime in and say differently.</p>
<p>Thanks, mom2, I didn’t see the other thread but will look for it. My partner is not a legal parent of my child, and I was looking over the financial aid websites of the colleges she is interested in and several of them are fafsa-only which may work to our advantage.</p>
<p>I am not sure how the same situation where the partner is not the parent would be treated. I had thought is would be the same as a stepparent but am not sure from reading the rules. Hopefully Nikkil or kelsmom (who are financial aid officers in real life) will see this and chime in.</p>
<p>I’m having a hard time figuring out how to list gay parents - on the FAFSA form, CSS Profile and the Common Application. My partner and I are both the legal parents of our daughter. I called FAFSA and they said because of the Defense of Marriage Act, gay marriage is not recognized on that form, so neither would the income of the 2nd, non-biological parent. Same is true for the CSS profile. Has anyone been through this process and have some helpful suggestions?</p>
<p>According to this poster FAFSA does not recognize gay marriage. This would not be considered the same as a common law marriage between two heterosexuals. Before anybody flames me I am NOT saying this is right or just…it is what the above poster was told by FAFSA.</p>
<p>To be honest, I have never dealt with this. I did allow a domestic partner in the household size recently, because the student supports the partner. I don’t normally allow adults to be included in the household size, but this student actually had the partner listed on her tax form as a dependent. In your case, missemily516, you would not want to include the partner in your household size - you are not including the income (thankfully!), so you would leave her out of your household size.</p>
<p>Thanks kelsmom, I have no problem leaving her off of the forms completely - I will just use my income and my daughter and I for the household size. </p>
<p>I don’t want to be a cheater, and will include my partners income where ever the colleges want me to, but it will be an advantage if I don’t have to include her income (obviously) and I am glad to take that advantage of it if I can.</p>