How ED’s Revised Options for Gender on the FAFSA Will Impact the Correction Process
By NASFAA Policy & Federal Relations Staff
Update: On February 18, the department posted an electronic announcement detailing its implementation of updated gender options on the FAFSA.
The Department of Education (ED) announced via a press release its plans to revise the gender response options on the FAFSA in order to be consistent with President Trump’s executive order, which now requires the federal government to recognize only two sexes: male and female. NASFAA has since learned this change to the FAFSA was made February 14, 2025.
The revised question (question number 11 on the paper form) previously asked about a student’s gender with the response options male, female, nonbinary, or the student could indicate “prefer not to answer.” This question was revised to ask about a student’s sex and only allow students to select male or female. While the press release stated this change would apply to “current and future FAFSA forms” NASFAA confirmed with ED that the revisions were made to both the 2024-25 and 2025-26 FAFSA forms, as well as future years.
Based on information NASFAA received from ED, students who previously submitted their 2024-25 or 2025-26 FAFSA with either the response option “nonbinary” or “prefer not to answer” will not be required to update their response. However, if a student initiates a FAFSA correction to any question, they will be prompted and required to provide a response of either “male” or “female” to the revised question. ED explained this is because the FAFSA Simplification Act requires that they ask this question. As such, the system will require a response of “male” or “female” in order to process the FAFSA correction. It is important to note, though the question is required, the applicant’s response is solely used for statistical and research purposes by ED. The applicant’s response does not impact their eligibility for federal student aid.
NASFAA confirmed if a school initiates a correction (such as for verification, professional judgment, etc.) they will not be prompted or required to select a response to the question regarding the applicant’s sex, as schools do not see the responses for this particular question, and it is not present on the applicant’s ISIR. Because of this, ED’s revision to the FAFSA does not require a change to the ISIR record layout.
ED also clarified if a student completes a paper FAFSA with the old version of the question text and response options, it will still be processed. It is unclear at this time how the FAFSA Processing System will handle a selection of “nonbinary” or “prefer not to answer.” However, NASFAA confirmed the record will not be rejected, and the applicant will not need to complete a revised version of the paper FAFSA.
Publication Date: 2/18/2025
Diane D | 2/26/2025 1:50:16 PM
This question should either be removed or "prefer not to answer" re-added. It's ludicrous to require such unimportant information to receive federal aid.
Shannon S | 2/18/2025 6:5:42 PM
I agree that the question should be removed all together. Why is it required if it does not impact eligibility for aid. It seems to be causing more issues for no reason.
Susan J | 2/18/2025 12:7:12 PM
Why would "prefer not to answer" be removed? That's not a gender, it's a none of your business response. I think this should be pushed back on because people should always have the option to not respond to a question like this.
Nikki V | 2/18/2025 8:44:51 AM
Will NASFAA request that the gender question be removed entirely since it is only used for statistical research and the response does not impact their eligibility for federal student aid?
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