<p>My parents are gay and have been together (and living together) for long time now. It somewhat recently became legal for them to get married in our state, but they want to wait until I'm out of college if it will have an effect on the financial aid I receive. One of my parents is retired and lives solely off of untaxed social security if that changes anything. Will them getting married reduce the amount of need based aid I get?</p>
<p>It may, because it would ask for both your parents income.
They can always try the calculator both ways to see how much difference it makes, & if it is worth it to them to wait.</p>
<p>I think FAFSA now requires the info of BOTH parents even if NOT married…but living together. So, married or not, both parents’ income will get reported. So, no difference…both parents on FAFSA either way.</p>
<p>I don’t think the above is true because in most states both of your parents are not your legal parents. They do not count the income of a legal guardian. Most gay parents in my state are a natural parent plus one guardian or an adoptive parent plus one guardian. In my state gay couples cannot adopt together. As said above it’s worth it to try the FAFSA both ways, as married and not married. </p>
<p>Do you have one legal parent or two?</p>
<p>Parent’s marital status is as follows:</p>
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<p>I agree with M2k, that if both people are the legal parents of the student and are unmarried but living together, then both parents are reported on the FAFSA.</p>
<p>Congrats to your family!</p>
<p>It seems unlikely the college will know about yr other parent if he/she is not a legal guardian nor appears on the legally recognized parent’s tax return.</p>
<p>I’m curious, can gay married couples file joint tax returns? </p>
<p>Please…whatever happens, just be honest. I’m disturbed by post #6 which implies that you can just leave one of your parents off because the schools are unlikely to find put. Frankly, that is very poor advice. </p>
<p>When completing those financial aid forms, you need to be honest…very honest. And it’s not worth the risk of losing your aid and admission to a college if they DO find out. You will always be looking over your shoulder.</p>
<p>If your parents are both your legal guardians, and live together, married or not, you are required to now put them on the FAFSA form.</p>
<p>I personally know two families whom this has recently affected. They were both legally married in Vermont several years ago but since Pennsylvania and the federal government wasn’t recognizing their marriages (or didn’t - I don’t even know what the law is anymore) they never had to report the other income to their universities. Now, however, with the recent change in the federal status they had to report their spouse’s (non parent) income. Both kids are seniors and are taking major hits. One family has to pay an additional 40k to Penn. Yikes!</p>
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<p>yes. I believe that is the change that required the reporting to the schools.</p>
<p>^^^For clarification to my post - neither of the newly added spouses is a legal parent. </p>
<p>Congrats to OP’s family.
I agree with those who say it depends on whether both are now already legal parents or guardians.</p>
<p>I add my congratulations to your parents!</p>
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<p>Federal returns, yes, after the relevant parts of DOMA were ruled unconstitutional by SCOTUS last year in the Windsor case. For state returns, it depends on current state law, but my guess is that will be changing soon.</p>
<p>@Fobonicus: Are you the dependent child of the parent receiving social security? If so, you may already know this, but if you are under 18 and your parent is retired and receiving social security, you can receive monthly social security payments as well through 18 or through the month you graduate from high school if longer. If you are the only child of this retiree, your monthly check would be an amount equal to 50% of his. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10085.pdf”>http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10085.pdf</a></p>
<p>Call or visit your local social security office to look into this.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the congratulations and help! To clarify, I have a biological mother and an adoptive mother. The adoptive mother is on SS. </p>
<p>@Madison85 Yes, I do believe we receive that money.</p>
<p>I don’t think things are clear yet. On the FAFSA you put the parent you live with. If that parent is married you also include the spouse. On CSS profile you include parent and spouse. You also include other parent you are not living with as a non-custodial parent (adoptive parent supercedes bio parent.) Their spouse’s income is also included.</p>
<p>So I am guessing that you will only include one legal custodial one parent now on FAFSA. If that parent marries, you will include parent and spouse. Do like people said and run it both ways.</p>
<p>BrownParent…even if parents are not married…if they are living together, they must both be put on the FAFSA form.</p>
<p>Your last post cleared it up. Your bio mom and your adoptive mom should both be on your birth certificate. Both their incomes must be reported. It sounds like your bio mom is the high earner anyway. You have to report both incomes just as a child of hetero parents who are not married must. It sounds like there’s no advantage to your parents not getting married. The lower paid mom would be eligible for widow benefits someday under Social Security after they are legally married for ten years.</p>
<p>I think I was confused by thinking the gay ones were dads, and you also had a mom, so ignore my posts. </p>
<p>Maybe there is a tax advantage to the moms not getting married (consult a tax advisor). The adoptive mom’s income consists of untaxed retiree social security. If she were to marry, then 85% of her social security may become taxable.</p>