Applying for Financial Aid -Divorced

Paying for College
1

<p>I have primary custody of my children. When applying for financial aid, does the primary custodian need to complete the financial information, or do both parents complete the financials? He does not plan on contributing to the children's education, but his income is less than mine. (on paper, anyway).</p>

<p>Thanks,</p>

2

<p>For the FAFSA, only the custodial parent (and spouse if there is one) has income/assets listed on the FAFSA form. If you receive child support, this is also included.</p>

<p>If you have a child whose school requires either the CSS Profile or a school financial aid form, very often the information from BOTH parents (and spouses if there are spouses) must be considered. There are some Profile schools that do not require non-custodial parent information but many DO. You need to check with the schools to know.</p>

<p>As an FYI…for schools requiring information from the non-custodial parent…that information WILL be used to calculate need based aid. The schools do not take whether the parent plans to contribute or not into consideration…the info is used.</p>

3

<p>If you apply to most private schools, they will require financial information from both parents for the CSS PROFILE.</p>

4

<p>^^^</p>

<p>most privates don’t require the NCP info. Some do. Usually the ones that give the best aid require NCP info.</p>

<p>FAFSA-only schools usually give lousy aid, so your children will need to apply to the right schools…otherwise you’ll be gapped big time. EFC means NOTHING to schools except to find out if you qualify for a little bit of federal aid. If you’re not low income, then you won’t get a small federal grant. </p>

<p>Peggy…if you remarry, your new H’s income/assets will have to be included on FAFSA. </p>

<p>If your child applies to a school that requires NCP info, then your ex (and new wife) would have to provide financial info…otherwise the FA request will NOT get processed AT ALL. Schools don’t care if NCPs say that they won’t pay.</p>

5

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<p>Not true. Only about 300 schools use the PROFILE. And only about half those require noncustodial information.</p>

<p><a href=“https://profileonline.collegeboard.com/prf/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet.srv[/url]”>https://profileonline.collegeboard.com/prf/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet.srv&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>As thumper1 notes, there are schools that do not use the PROFILE but that have their own forms, some of which ask for noncustodial parent information. Check the websites of individual schools for the requirements.</p>