<p>my mother alone does not make much money per year and could probably qualify as "low income"
however, my stepdad makes a lot of money which will make it hard for us to get any financial aid at all..
the thing is, my stepdad refuses to pay a penny for my college tuition, and my biological father(who never paid any child support)claims to not have enough money to pay for my education.</p>
<p>Is there anyway I can tell this to colleges?</p>
<p>dude, I'm totally in the same situation, exept my biological dad does have the money. I just want some help so that they dont have to pay anything for college. IM curious to know what we can do</p>
<p>Yes, you could certainly tell them, but it's up to them to determine whether they'll adjust your financial aid because of it. I think the situation with your bio dad is actually a little easier to resolve. Private schools that use the CSS Profile do ask about non-custodial parent income (FAFSA only schools do not), but one way you can sometimes get the non-custodial parent's expected contribution waived is if they never paid any child support. The problem is more likely to be with your stepdad. Not sure if there's anyway to get around that, because it isn't really about his willingness to pay, but his ability to pay. </p>
<p>But it's always worth explaining your situation to college financial aid offices. It doesn't mean you'll get the outcome you want, but it's at least worth asking.</p>
<p>You can tell them, but from what I've seen from reading CC for years is that the college still will expect your stepdad to contribute, and the colleges will want tax info from your father.</p>
<p>Consequently, you will need to apply to colleges that you know you can afford, which may mean places that you can commute to from home or places that offer excellent merit aid that you're likely to get because your stats are in the top of their applicant pool.</p>
<p>Applying to need-based places is likely to result in disappointment for you because it's likely you won't get the aid that you need to attend such places.</p>
<p>You can tell. But keep in mind: if an explanation that a step-dad does not want to pay were enough to save you $$$ on tuition every family would provide such a explanation.
As for your dad - he will be doing all the standard forms. So they will see that he cannot pay much.</p>