DOE Student Aid Form to drop the terms 'father' and 'mother

The terms 'mother' and 'father' will be removed from federal student aid applications beginning with the 2014-2015 academic year. This change is reported yesterday in The Washington Times. Each year millions of college students use these forms to apply for all federal student aid programs including Pell Grants, federally subsidized student loans and other aid programs. The forms will instead use the terms “Parent 1” and “Parent 2” to replace 'mother' and 'father.”

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan issued a statement about the change, “All students should be able to apply for federal student aid within a system that incorporates their unique family dynamics,” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a statement. “These changes will allow us to more precisely calculate federal student aid eligibility based on what a student’s whole family is able to contribute and ensure taxpayer dollars are better targeted toward those students who have the most need, as well as provide an inclusive form that reflects the diversity of American families.” 

The changes will allow the federal aid applications to gather more information about student's parents in the instance of divorces and other arrangement in which one parent in the past might not have been included on the form.

Read the rest HERE.

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