How Do We Verify an Unmarried Student With a Domestic Partner?
Award Year: 2024-25 KA-36687 Helpfulness Rating 298 page viewsThis guidance is specific to the 2024-25 award year and later. For 2023-24* award year guidance see AskRegs Q&A, How Do We Verify an Unmarried Student With a Domestic Partner?
Scenario: We have a student chosen for verification who has a registered domestic partner. The partner is the sole income earner and they have two children. The student does not work.
Answer: You verify the student like any other student. If the student is not legally married to the domestic partner, then the domestic partner is not included on the FAFSA and the domestic partner's income is not included as income earned from work nor in adjusted gross income (AGI). Starting with the 2024-25 award year under the FAFSA Simplification Act, any income that the student receives from the domestic partner is not reported on the FAFSA, is not included in need analysis, and is not treated as other financial assistance (OFA) when packaging the student with Title IV aid.
See also AskRegs Knowledgebase Q&A, Can We Use PJ To Include Income That Was Excluded From Need Analysis By the FAFSA Simplification Act?
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