When you are unable to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), your access to college, scholarships and student loans immediately changes.

This is the case for many LGBTQ+ students when questions on the FAFSA application – a form that determines what a student is eligible to receive in federal aid – ask for information like their parents’ or guardians’ bank statements and signature to submit for aid.

Queer & Trans Wealth, an anti-capitalist personal finance resource and service, says that when queer and trans folks don’t have support from their parents it makes it extremely difficult to fill out FAFSA and complete the form.

“If you are not cool with your parents then number one, who’s going to walk you through the process of filling out the form? And number two, what do you do if you can’t get a cosigner for your student loan?,” Leo Aquino, journalist and founder of Queer & Trans Wealth, told Reckon.

While FAFSA has made several updates to its application over the last year – creating a shorter form but causing delays in the process of submitting applications for millions of students – the outdated age requirement for students to complete FAFSA has yet to change.

The U.S. Department of Education requires a parent’s income and signature – regardless of if they are not contributing to their child’s education – until the student is 24 years old.

According to the Department of Education, “the application will be considered ‘rejected’” without those two mandatory components.

“You can’t be considered independent of your parents just because they refuse to help you with this process,” says the official StudentAid.gov FAQ.

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While most students tend to rely on a combination of FAFSA and parental support to financially navigate their college journey, this can often be impossible for some LGBTQ+ students whose parents or guardians refuse to support them and their college endeavors.

According to a 2023 report by the Center for LGBTQ Economic Advancement and Research, 73 percent of LGBTQ+ respondents said they could rely financially on their family before telling them about their sexual orientation. After coming out, the percentage of respondents who reported being able to rely financially on their family dropped to 62 percent.

Parents of transgender and nonbinary children, according to the report, were more likely to ostracize their children. The percentage of respondents who said they could rely on their families before coming out was 85 percent, but this dropped to 57 percent once they told them about their gender identity.

“For queer folks navigating the world, you a lot of times have less mental and emotional headspace to deal with finances that are keeping you tied down, like student loans,” Aquino said.

With six figures of student loan debt, Aquino knows what it’s like to worry about a financial future and college without the support of their parents.

LGBTQ+ students are more likely to take on student debt to pay for college compared with their non-LGBTQ+ counterparts, according to the Center for LGBTQ Economic Advancement and Research.

“My family is hella Catholic, so when I was younger and in my little closet that was glass, my brain was like, ‘If I get kicked out of the house, how am I going to find somewhere to stay? What am I going to do for work? How am I going to afford this?,’” Aquino explained. “My thoughts then were, ‘I’m just going to stay in here until I can afford to make it on my own.’ And I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that way.”

Aquino found themselves with close to 65 percent of their student loans as private.

Without the support of parents/guardians, LGBTQ+ students often turn to options other than FAFSA to pay for their college education like higher-interest private student loans and even using credit cards to cover some of their college expenses. There are a few exceptions to the age requirement, including if someone under 24 is married or if the student selects yes to the forms question: Do unusual circumstances prevent the student from contacting their parents or would contacting their parents pose a risk to the student?

According to the Williams Institute, 39 percent of LGBTQ+ adults ages 18 to 40 have student debt in the form of federal student loans, private student loans from a bank or other lending institution, credit cards or other loans – these loans are much more predatory than federal loans and have much higher interest rates. Most (90 percent) of these adults have federal student loans.

With a lack of parental support, taking on high-interest loans and credit card debt to cover the cost of college can all lead to financial issues in the future for LGBTQ+ students like affording housing and health care.

“Student loans affect us in the same way that most bills do – now you have to worry about how it will affect your financial and housing stability. And you have to use mental and emotional energy to deal with it,” Aquino told Reckon.

Queer and Trans Wealth recommends that LGBTQ+ student loan borrowers find people with similar debt experiences as them and join debt abolishment groups like the Debt Collective for support groups and student loan guidance.

Aquino also encourages and empowers borrowers to ask all the questions they need to and take good notes when communicating with their loan services or their college’s financial aid office.

“Everyone’s in debt and you’re not any less of a person because you have it. There’s no moral value to it because it’s just debt,” Aquino said.