This week has brought a flood of news on gay rights as Supreme Court justices review the Defense Of Marriage Act (DOMA). The repeal of DOMA would bring many benefits to same-sex families, such as death benefits, tax incentives, and health insurance coverage.

What does this have to do with financial aid? A lot, actually.

An increasingly common issue in the financial aid application process is how LGBT families file the FAFSA.

Because of DOMA, financial aid for same-sex families is determined differently and can lead to non-uniform aid awards. When filing the FAFSA, both parents (if married) are required to provide their financial information. In the case where marriage is not federally recognized, only one parent would be able to file for the student, leading to increased financial aid for the family. What’s more, any financial support from the other parent would be reported as untaxed income and subject to different treatment in the aid calculations. The same logic applies to married students.

If DOMA is repealed, the application process would be streamlined for all married couples. Financial aid would take all financial support for the student into account, and the question of “which parent should file the FAFSA” would be eliminated for these families.

This also means that same-sex families might get less financial aid, because financial awards would be based on both parents’ income and assets, not just one.

Clearly DOMA has far-reaching impacts for college students and their families, as repealing DOMA would mean uniformity in the financial aid process for all married couples.

The financial aid process can be tough to navigate, and like many students out there, you may not know all of the ins-and-outs. To help you make the most of your financial aid, we compiled a list of some noteworthy facts.

1. You must maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)

To stay eligible for financial aid, there are certain criteria you have to maintain. Many students know about the qualitative measures such as minimum GPA, but there are also quantitative criteria students must meet. For example, a student must not exceed 150% of the credits required for their program of study, and this includes attempted credits. This means that too many withdrawals, failed, or incomplete courses can impede your eligibility for financial aid. Make sure you know your school’s SAP policy to keep your financial aid on track or check out this example from the University of Minnesota.

2. Males must register with the Selective Service

Some students don’t realize this until it’s too late, but in order to receive financial aid, male students 18 and older must register for selective service. If you don’t register by the time you’re 26, you will be unable to receive federal financial aid funds. After that, it’s incredibly difficult to regain eligibility, if at all.
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You can refinance your mortgage, but can you refinance your student loans? The short answer is: possibly. Let me elaborate.

Refinancing is a tool commonly used by borrowers in the housing industry to lower interest rates. In regards to student loans, refinancing options are not widely available and depend on the type of loan you have.

Consolidating Federal Student Loans

Federal student loans (such as Stafford Loans) are not able to be refinanced but they can be consolidated. For federal loans, you must consolidate them through a Federal Direct Consolidation Loan which determines your new interest rate as a weighted average. Unfortunately, weighted averages do nothing to lower your rate.

However, there are still some benefits to consolidating your loans, such as:

• It lowers your monthly payment by extending the term of the loan
• It makes managing your repayment easier by combing multiple federal loans into one

Probably not the answer you were hoping for, but consolidation can be helpful to those struggling with high monthly payments.
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As you may have heard by now, the recent sequestration has huge implications for education across the board, and Higher Ed. is no exception. The budget cuts that took effect on March 1, 2013 will affect most types of federal student aid, including Federal Work Study (FWS), Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants (FSEOG), Service Grants, TEACH Grants, and the Direct Student Loan Program. Fortunately for many students, Pell Grants were specifically exempt from the budget cuts.

Here’s a brief overview of what to expect from student aid programs going forward:

Federal Work Study and FSEOG Programs

Budget cuts of $86 million do not only mean a reduction in the FSEOG program, it could also mean a loss of on-campus employment for as many as 33,000 students if colleges do not step in with funding. While these campus-based programs are funded through the remainder of this year, program cuts will take affect for the 2013-2014 academic year.

Iraq – Afghanistan Service and TEACH Grants

For both of these federal grants, funding has been reduced for any award first disbursed during the sequester. It should have no impact on grants first disbursed before the cuts took effect.
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Developing good saving habits starts when you’re young, but many students don’t know where to begin. While we know it can be tough to save money when college expenses keep growing, every little bit helps. Below are five ways to help you save right now and better manage your money.

1. Automate your Saving

If you receive a regular paycheck from a part-time or on-campus job, see if you can allocate a portion to automatically deposit in a savings account. It doesn’t have to be a lot, but by putting a little bit away into a separate account, you’re more likely not to spend it and can even earn interest on the savings.

2. Use your Tax Refund Wisely

Did you just get your tax refund or are you patiently awaiting its arrival? It might be tempting to spend all of the “extra” money right away, but don’t! Put it directly into your savings account to build interest for when you really need it. That doesn’t mean don’t treat yourself to something nice, just keep it reasonable.
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February 25 – March 2, 2013 is America Saves Week, and to kick things off, student loan giant Sallie Mae released a national study on how Americans save for college. In “How America Saves for College: 2013” the statistics show that although most families are optimistic about their college savings, few are taking advantage of their options today. According to the study “Most college savers remain optimistic about their ability to save and plan to increase their savings in the next five years, though two-thirds don’t have a plan to achieve their goals.”

How Families are Saving

Much of the data has been compiled into an infographic, which shows a variety of ways families save, and the types of accounts they’re using. Of the families saving for college, only 27% choose 529 college savings plans. Other savings vehicles include general savings accounts, checking, investments, and even retirement accounts.

Best Ways to Save

Parent-Owned Accounts
Savings in the student’s name is assessed at a much higher rate than parent savings when applying for financial aid. While a maximum of 5.6% of parent assets count against a family, a whopping 20% of a student’s assets are used in financial aid calculations. When possible, keep funds out of the student’s name, and take advantage of incentivized savings vehicles over checking accounts, for example.
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Earlier this week, President Obama talked about the new College Scorecard tool in his State of the Union Address. This new tool provides college data to students and families going through the college selection process and aims to provide some statistics that allow families to assess the return on investment.

Tool Features

The College Scorecard allows users to evaluate colleges on:

• Costs
• Graduation rate
• Loan default rate
• Average borrowing
• Employment outlook

While historically, many families have chosen schools based on social environment, location, and academic programs, college costs are now a driving factor. The College Scorecard allows families to make better decisions around college expenses, by providing average borrowing and default rates of schools.
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With the holidays coming to a close, many of you are putting down the eggnog and starting to prepare for the upcoming year. All those who will be entering college in the fall, whether it be for their freshman or senior year, are trying to minimize the costs of school, and the FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, is one of the best ways to do that.

I’m back from my third semester of college to provide some tips for filing the FAFSA. So, without further ado, here are my five pieces of FAFSA advice.

1. Do It

Many families don’t file the FAFSA because they believe that they earn too much to qualify for federal aid. Income is only one of the factors that determines eligibility, so you should file the FAFSA regardless of income. Even if you only qualify for $500 of federal aid, this is certainly better than nothing.
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It’s January, and that means FAFSA season is underway! Students can now file their FAFSAs for the 2013-2014 academic year. As you prepare to file, we wanted to make sure that you have all the information at your fingertips, so read on to learn about some of the changes and enhancements that were made to the FAFSA form this year.

Food Stamps

To stay in line with program changes, references to food stamps have been altered to say Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Additionally, explanatory text regarding this name change has been removed from questions 74-78 and 95-99.

High School Information

Starting this year, if you answer “High School Diploma” to the high school completion status question, you are now required to complete the subsequent questions about the name, city, and state of your school. This change is intended to better-ensure applicant eligibility.
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Great news for student loan debt holders who are struggling to pay those loans every month. Have you heard of the Income Based Repayment (IBR) program, or the “Pay as You Earn” plan? Well if you haven’t, you might want to listen up.

To give you a little history- the US Department of Education implemented an Income Based Repayment (IBR) program in 2007, which aimed to help borrowers pay off their student loan debt, relative to their earnings. However, the program wasn’t cutting it as the student debt number continued to rise to $864 billion in federal loans and most students out of college were landing low paying jobs.

The improved version of this program, also referred to as the “Pay as You Earn” plan, is designed to address this issue and will launch on December 21st, 2012.

This plan is designed to do two things:

1. Reduce the cap on monthly payments from 15 to 10 percent of discretionary income.
2. Accelerate the time it takes for students’ loans to be forgiven from 25 to 20 years.

Here is an example of potential savings with this improved plan for a household of 1 with an income of $45,000/year and $60,000 in loans:

To qualify for the “Pay as You Earn” program:

• You must have taken out a federal student loan after October 1, 2007 AND have taken out at least one loan on or after October 1, 2011 (Private student loans do not apply).
• Use the IBR calculator to determine if you are eligible for the Income Based Repayment Program.

The Department of Education estimates that at least 1.6 million borrowers qualify for the “Pay as You Earn” plan, but very few are aware that it exists, so spread the word and share this important information with your peers! Learn more about Income Based Repayment.