<p>I CANNOT figure this out. I work with high school students, many of whom have biological parents who have never married and are not together. So, the FAFSA asks (if I am remembering these questions correctly after only 12 submissions), "What is the marital status of your parents?" It is known and presumed that this means your BIOLOGICAL parents. As I recall the options are Single, Married, Divorced, Separated. Well, student's biological parents are SEPARATED or SINGLE. (I know that "separated" is a legal term that does not even really apply in this case, but bear with me). Then it asks, who supports you, or something-->student chooses Mother. THEN it asks what Mom's marital status is, and the choices are the same. The mom is MARRIED, but to someone else (stepfather of student). What does the student answer? (This is one of the rare cases where the CSS Profile is actually clearer, since I think it has the option of "Separated, never married" which I see a lot.</p>
<p>I may not have the order of these questions correctly (I was fried by that point in the day) but I KNOW the student and I could NOT figure out how to answer that question. I do not think it was as unclear last year. Help me, kelsmom, nikkil, swimcatsmom, anyone??!!</p>
<p>For FAFSA it actually doesn’t matter if the mom is married to the biological father or not for purposes of the mom’s marital status (assuming that the mom is the custodial parent here). If she’s married to someone her status is “Married or Remarried”. If she’s divorced or separated from the biological father and not remarried, her status is “Divorced or separated”. If she never married the biological father or is widowed and has not remarried, she’s answer “single”.</p>
<p>Thanks! I think what confused me and the student was that the thread of questions started out by asking about her parents, plural, not her parent. Maybe the logical order was different than last year, or less logical. Maybe I just needed some lunch!</p>
<p>This question actually trips up a lot of students. Vballmom is correct - the question refers to the current situation of the custodial parent. A lot of students take it to mean “are your biological parents divorced?” - which they often are - then when they say yes, the system only prompts for the mom’s info. Verification comes, income is increased, and EFC rises. While some may think the explanation is clear, many do not feel it is. This is one area I would like to see worded differently.</p>
<p>The separation does not have to be legal, but you do have to be able to provide documentation that would clearly show there really is a separation if requested to do so. Some schools will not allow you to claim “separated” if you cannot provide them convincing evidence that the separation is real. Otherwise, anyone could use another address & say they are separated!</p>
<p>Re Post #5. Exactly!! This does come up a lot in some contexts. I am glad to hear that you think it could be worded differently. I was wondering if I was drifting off the deep end there. Thanks, Kmom!</p>