Another divorce question

Paying for College
1

<p>Hello all,
I am currently a Junior in HS and looking to college in about 13 months. I have a quick QQ about finaid. First, my first choice college is Cornell if anyone knows about their practices specifically it would be helpful.</p>

<p>So the facts: I live with my mother 80% and my dad 20%
Mothers income aprox 35-40k
Stepfathers income 200k+
Fathers income 130k
I do not know about their assets, or any of those specifics, but I know that my mothers family owns a small vacation home, and there is probably less than 100k equity in the house that stepfather owns</p>

<p>what does this all mean for financial aid. How does having an uber-rich step father screw things up with my EFC. Can someone please do a rough sketch EFC calculation (I know there are calculators, but I do not know how the stepparents income affects EFC. Also, how will Cornell in all of its finaid glory look upon my fafsa, noncustodial parent, and stepfather thing. Also, my sister will be in college for 1 year while during my fresh year (35k/yr college)</p>

<p>Finally, my step father will not pay a dime for my education because he does not want to. I am not upset by this or anything, but please to not destroy me for requesting finaid, because although it may not look like I have need, most of this will be out of my pocket.</p>

2

<p>I was in pretty much the same situation, except my mom's income was 0, my stepdad co-owned a business that netted 4 mil+ a year, and my dad was in the 79,000 range. </p>

<p>My stepdad refused to pay a red cent for my education so we filled out all forms and included that tidbit for the lovelies at finaid.</p>

<p>They pretty much just took my dad's income into account, as he was considered the custodial parent, and I ended up with a pretty good package, EFC 19000, but only had to pay cornell EFC 9000.</p>

<p>I'm not sure what percentage they'll look at custodial + noncustodial since my mom's income was 0, but they do take special situations created by stepparents into consideration.</p>

3

<p>Your mother is your custodial parent. Your stepfather's income is included both in FAFSA and in Profile. The concept is not that your stepfather is required to pay for your education. The concept is that your stepfather pays for your mother's needs, and therefore most of her income and assets are available for your college education.</p>

<p>Schools that take the CSS Profile (including Cornell) require non-custodial parental information as well as custodial and stepparents. (This includes a stepmother if your father has also remarried.) </p>

<p>Even considering only your parents' income (mom + dad = $165-$170K), you are unlikely to receive any need-based financial aid, except for unsubsidized Stafford loans, for which anyone is eligible. Throw your stepfather's income in and it is even more unlikely.</p>

<p>Colleges generally don't care whether your stepfather or father want to pay for college. Otherwise, every parent would refuse. They only care if your stepfather or father is able to pay for college.</p>

<p>If you need financial assistance to go to college, look for schools that offer merit aid for students with your academic profile.</p>

4

<p>Well, the only people required to pay for your college are your true, biological parents or legal guardians. One's stepparents are only legally obligated towards their spouse and their own children. </p>

<p>Therefore, your non-custodial parent's income is included and your stepparent's would be unless otherwise noted. Having your sister in college will also lower your EFC, but it will increase once she graduates... if you would struggle with payments the first year, maybe reconsider; in addition to any part of the EFC you'd pay, Cornell would require you, and all students, to earn at least 2250 during the summer to cover your aid expenses, and usually 1800 during the school year (900 per semester).</p>

<p>If that weren't the case, I'd be receiving exactly 0 dollars in aid.
I'd apply either way and make note about that on your application, since they do offer a place to explain "special circumstances":</p>

<p>
[quote]
If either parent is remarried, his or her current spouse’s information must be included. Please explain any special circumstances on a separate page.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Just make sure it's signed by stepparent and parent in question.
Still, apply for aid: little known fact, Cornell gives scholarships that'll reduce your loan component if you qualify for aid.</p>

<p>Mine in particular granted $600 for books each year if I didn't apply/qualify for aid, but when I received my aid package, it had blossomed into a much larger sum (11,000) per year and covered any loans+some that I might've had. So if all you get are loans, the scholarship would be much more beneficial than if you had not applied for aid.</p>

<p>If worse comes to worse, and none of your parents would be willing/able to support you in college, you could emancipate yourself and become independent, but that's only reserved for severe cases, as your parents would no longer be responsible for your well being. at all. Usually only occurs in cases where the parents are incompentent/abusive.</p>

5

<p>Whether a stepparent is "legally" obligated to pay for a stepchild's college is irrelevant. Natural parents are not "legally" obligated to pay for a child's college, at least not once the kid turns 18. Colleges will still use that income and those assets in determining what your family can afford (and your family includes stepparents), not what they are willing to pay or believe they can afford.</p>

<p>Certainly you can mention your stepfather's refusal to fund your education. Just don't be surprised if it doesn't get you too far. And even if Cornell will consider your stepfather's refusal, the combined income of your natural mother and father is likely too high for you to receive much aid.</p>

<p>And becoming "independent" merely because your parents/stepparents refuse to fund your education is not realistic. Independence is generally reserved for those kids who have been functionally abandoned by their parents during their minority.</p>

6

<p>Chedva is correct. Read the instructions to FAFSA. Read the instructions to PROFILE. THere are some schools that may take into account your stepfather's sentiments, but I don't think Cornell is one of them. Remember EFC stands for "every friggin' cent".</p>

7

<p>Just to clear up any confusion, and I may be the exception:
I filled out/completed all required forms. FAFSA, CSS profile, noncustodial CSS profile etc. and was required to send in all parents'/stepparents' (they filed jointly) tax returns, W2s, income reports, business/farm supplement (longest month of my life). It's not like I hid any sources of income while applying. My stepdad netted 4+mil a year, my mom 0, my dad + stepmom were 79,000.</p>

<p>So while they considered my stepmom's income, they didn't consider my stepdad's source of income (he was the only one who refused). And yes, I've been talking about Cornell. Peep my location.</p>

<p>They may consider, they may not, but it's not like it never happens. While your income is higher than the new initiatives cover, just apply and see what happens. Don't be too optimistic, at all, "economic downturn" blah blah blah, but explain it as best you can and see what they can do about it.</p>