{"id":226,"date":"2024-07-11T10:17:24","date_gmt":"2024-07-11T15:17:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/lgbtrc\/?page_id=226"},"modified":"2026-05-27T09:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T14:44:10","slug":"financial-aid","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/lgbtrc\/support-resources\/financial-aid\/","title":{"rendered":"Financial Aid &amp; Scholarships"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>LGBTQ+ students can sometimes face unique obstacles in obtaining financial aid. Here are some common ones you may encounter. If you need assistance with anything else, be sure to contact the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/finances\">Student Financial Service Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"uwm-p-accordion uwm-p-accordion--icon-left-circle\" data-accordion-prefix-classes=\"uwm\" data-accordion-cool-selectors=\"1\"><button class=\"uwm-p-accordion--toggle-button size-p-md\">Expand All<\/button>\n<div class=\"uwm-p-accordion--header\">Same Sex Marriage and the FAFSA<\/div><div class=\"uwm-p-accordion--panel\"><div class=\"uwm-p-accordion--panel-inner uwm-u-clear\">\n<p><strong>Note:&nbsp;<\/strong>With the Supreme Court ruling on June 26th, 2015, same sex marriages&nbsp;<em>should<\/em>&nbsp;be treated no differently than opposite sex marriages. However, there may be a lag in&nbsp;the logistics catching&nbsp;up with the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the purposes of the FAFSA, the definition of marriage for the parents of a student is based on the laws in the state they&nbsp;live in. Same sex marriages are legally recognized in the state of Wisconsin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When determining which parents to list, list the&nbsp;legal parents of the student if they live in the same house, regardless of marital status. If not living together, it is not required for both to be listed. A step parent must&nbsp;be listed if they are legally married. If a&nbsp;parent is not legally recognized, they should not be listed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the student is married, they&nbsp;must list their spouse if they were legally married in a state that recognized it, regardless of where they now live. They do not need to list their partner from a legally-recognized civil union or domestic partnership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Source: Lambda Legal<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"uwm-p-accordion--header\">Name Discrepancies<\/div><div class=\"uwm-p-accordion--panel\"><div class=\"uwm-p-accordion--panel-inner uwm-u-clear\">\n<p>When filling out the FAFSA, you must enter your name as it appears on your social security card, even if you are recognized by your&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/registrar\/students\/your-student-record\/your-information\/\">preferred name<\/a>&nbsp;at UWM. If you have recently changed your name legally, you must bring the court documentation to any Social Security Administration office to receive an updated social security card.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"uwm-p-accordion--header\">FAFSA Dependency Override<\/div><div class=\"uwm-p-accordion--panel\"><div class=\"uwm-p-accordion--panel-inner uwm-u-clear\">\n<p>Unfortunately, an LGBTQ+ student may be cut off from their family after coming out. This alone is not enough for a student to be considered independent. However, the Higher Education Act does allow for an financial aid administrator to grant independent status due to unusual circumstances. That process is called a dependency override.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To obtain a dependency override, you must submit a letter to a financial aid administrator&nbsp;requesting one, complete with detailed circumstances of why one is required. If you can obtain a letter from a social worker or counselor supporting your circumstances, you should submit that as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When requesting an override, keep in mind what does and does not justify an override being granted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An override&nbsp;<strong>cannot<\/strong>&nbsp;be granted for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A parent refusing to contribute to a student\u2019s education<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A parent refusing to provide information for the FAFSA<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A parent not claiming the student as a dependent for tax purposes<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A student demonstrating complete financial self-sufficiency<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>However, these circumstances can justify an override:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A parent abandoning the student<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>An abusive family environment that threatens the student\u2019s health or safety<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A parent rejecting, ridiculing, or inflicting emotional abuse on a student<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>An LGBT student being rejected by their family due to their sexual orientation and\/or gender identity can be classified under these justifiable reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information, please see&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/onestop\/finances\/receiving-financial-aid\/determining-your-dependency-status\/\">UWM Student Financial Services<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Source: Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Application and Verification Guide 2023-24, Chapter 5<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-scholarships\">Scholarships<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>UWM\u2019s Panther Scholarship Portal encompasses all university-wide scholarship opportunities and most Schools\/Colleges scholarship opportunities. UWM also offers LGBTQIA Scholarship Opportunities, detailed in the list below.&nbsp;You&nbsp;are encouraged to submit a General Scholarship Application via the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fuwm.academicworks.com%2F&amp;data=04%7C01%7Ctennisc%40uwm.edu%7Cf1c9c8ccf97c456bd48108d9d6b9e128%7C0bca7ac3fcb64efd89eb6de97603cf21%7C0%7C0%7C637776916101116525%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&amp;sdata=s%2BYVurSuZeF3ObhinlVTX9pzDXvwodSUY8mmbQXUDqs%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">UWM Panther Scholarship Portal<\/a>, which will match you with campus-wide scholarship opportunities you may qualify for, including the opportunities listed below. Students should sign in using your ePanther ID and password to access the Panther Scholarship Portal.&nbsp; For questions related to these opportunities, please contact <a href=\"mailto:schlrshps@uwm.edu\">schlrshps@uwm.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LGBTQ+ students can sometimes face unique obstacles in obtaining financial aid. Here are some common ones you may encounter. If you need assistance with anything else, be sure to contact the&nbsp;Student Financial Service Center. Scholarships UWM\u2019s Panther Scholarship Portal encompasses &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":659,"featured_media":0,"parent":49,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[19147,30906]},"class_list":["post-226","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>LGBTQ+ Resource Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover scholarships, grants, and financial aid resources for LGBTQIA+ students at UWM to support your academic and personal success.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/lgbtrc\/support-resources\/financial-aid\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Financial Aid &amp; 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