<p>As a single parent I earn about $62,000 a year ( and this is an increase from the past years) I'm a teacher. I thought that if by some miricle my daughter got into one of the Ivies that the financial need given would make it accessible. I know that Columbia had claimed the ability to meet full need.. HA. </p>
<p>She got nothing. The only need met was a work study for a little more than $2000. They are basing the entire package off of her non-custodial parent. Who has never lived with us and never been married to me. I don't know how much he makes but I do know that he does not plan on supporting her college. After her student loan that would mean I would need to take out a 200,000 loan. Close to twice the cost on my home</p>
<p>I have called and they won't discuss his income with me. I asked him to call but he doesn't want to.</p>
<p>What are my options? Or is Columbia and Brown something she just has to give up.</p>
<p>I suspect calling them won’t help. Colleges that award 100% need base it on ability to pay, not willingness to pay. That’s a tough situation and I’m very sorry for your daughter. Do you have a financial safety?</p>
<p>I’m sorry that you didn’t understand that these schools would ask for non-custodial Profile information and then use it. Clearly a $200K debt for you is out of the question. If her dad is unwilling to supply the vast majority of support for college, then she needs to look at colleges that only use FAFSA (which will be based on your income and assets) or that use Profile but that don’t need the non-custodial information. </p>
<p>This may well mean that Columbia and Brown are out of the question.</p>
<p>Does your daughter have a relationship with her father, and can she ask him directly for support? From what you wrote it sounds like he might be reluctant to talk with you.</p>
<p>Does your daughter have some financial safety schools to which she was accepted? Do they work financially for your family?</p>
<p>You don’t need to discuss his income with them. The obvious fact is that he makes a lot of money or has big assets.</p>
<p>At this point, all you can do is explain that the NCP has no intention of contributing anything.</p>
<p>Did he pay child support? If he did, that will make the situation more difficult. </p>
<p>Columbia does meet full need. The fact is that your child has two parents, not one. It’s not Columbia’s fault that one parent refuses to pay. It’s really not much different than when married parents refuse to pay their fair share…the school is not to blame, the parents are. </p>
<p>I feel badly for your D, but someone should have long informed her that her dad’s income would be considered and likely her aid would be low/minimal. Even if his income was a lot less, the amount owed may have been $100k…still too much to borrow!!!</p>
<p>Do not borrow big loans for this…Columbia is a great school but not worth that kind of debt. My friend’s son graduated from Columbia in engineering last May and still doesn’t have a job.</p>
<p>Thanks for the comments. She does have some other options that are great, its just sad that she won’t be able to even consider Columbia or Brown which she also got into. I really don’t understand how his income would be so high. He has been out of work since Jan of last year. He must have had a great severance package…</p>
<p>and no there is no child support agreement of any kind.</p>
<p>Her other options are William and Mary with tuition scholarship, NYU with 3 scholarshisp, Fordum with tuition . These will still all be around the $11,000-$20,000 range but I am prepared for that amount. She also has the option of a small private that will be less than $5,000 but at the bottom of her list. Its the 50,000 plus that is impossible.</p>
<p>If he was willing to complete the NCP form unfortunately they will likely consider him reachable and thus on the hook for what they view as his share. We learned that some of the schools my D was considering wouldn’t work as they would not budge on needing NCP info. I know it’s tough now but she has great other options!</p>
<p>I agree that the issue you have is with her father, not with Columbia or Brown. Colleges assume it is the primarily the responsiblity of the parents to pay for college. Even in a scenario where the college was only considering your income, if you refused to pay that would be your decision – but it wouldn’t make it the college’s responsibility to make up the difference.</p>
<p>I work with a lot of kids whose parents do live with them and have supported them through their childhood, but they are not going to contribute anything to the kid’s college costs. That isn’t the fault of the schools.</p>
<p>I do not blame the colleges. I’m sure they just use the information provided. I fully understand that they are using the income that he has claimed. My problem comes from the fact that I know he is unemployed and has been for since January 2009. I don’t know what he claimed as income or what he submitted but I don’t see how there would be NO finacial aid…</p>
<p>The college says he needs to call them to make a change. I was just looking for some advice on how to go about challenging the information that he gave the colleges.</p>
<p>I don’t see how that solves your problem. People rarely claim more income than they really have on financial aid applications. If he doesn’t choose to contribute to his daughter’s college expenses, you can’t make him do so and neither can the school. If his income was magically lower than he reported, thus entitling your daughter to better FA this year, the same would not be true once he got a job – and I can’t imagine much worse than starting at your dream school, and then having to transfer out because you couldn’t afford it – especially since the other scholarship options she has right now are not likely to be available if she needs to transfer.</p>
<p>Life is tough sometimes, and often unfair. But I think you need to be very careful about thinking that you can somehow “manage” this problem away.</p>
<p>I don’t believe the college is even allowed to discuss his financial information with you. I understand you’re in a crummy situation. Do you think it’s possible your husband has assets or income he hasn’t told you about? He would have to submit is his tax documents, so whatever he put on his NCP Profile would be supported by tax documents that the college would have access to.</p>
<p>It’s weird, for sure.</p>
<p>But there may not be anything you can do about it, unfortunately. How frustrating as far as the FA goes, but also how frustrating to not even get to know what your ex reported so that you can understand the FA award. Ugh.</p>
<p>Thank you. Your the only one who seems to understand my frustration. He actually is not my husband or even and ex-husband. We have not been together since before my D was born and that may be part of my frustration. I was very surprised that his information was going to be included when I found out last year. And even more surprised that she could not get any aid without his filling out the forms although it looks like it doesn’t matter anyway.</p>
<p>My son’s best friend has a father that left the relationship with his mother just after she got pregnant. He didn’t even meet his father until he was around 12 years old. The father never paid child support (the mother never sought it) but did help out in a few ways when the kid was a teenager; he helped pay for braces, bought the kid a laptop, and a few things like that.</p>
<p>When he applied to colleges his dad agreed to fill out the NCP Profile, but after the financial aid awards arrived he refused to pay anything at all. He has a professional job, makes a decent income. The kid’s mom is really low income. She went to the college and asked for a waiver even though the father had already submitted his info. She brought in detailed information about ways he’d been involved financially with the kid and all the ways he had not been. She also brought in an email he sent to the kid saying he wasn’t going to help him out with college at all and pretty much said “bye, it’s been good to know you, have a nice life.”</p>
<p>She got a waiver from Northwestern, and after a year he transferred to Middlebury because it was a better fit for him, and they gave him a waiver too.</p>
<p>Have you tried to get your daughter’s father’s financial info waived? In a lot of cases it’s not easy to do, but it might be worth trying. I’ll tell you, my son’s friend’s mom was refused the first few times she asked lower level staff, but she went to the head of Admissions and Financial Aid, and then she got the waiver.</p>
<p>I’m sure they just use the information provided. I fully understand that they are using the income that he has claimed. My problem comes from the fact that I know he is unemployed and has been for since January 2009. I don’t know what he claimed as income or what he submitted but I don’t see how there would be NO finacial aid…</p>
<p>It sounds like the bio dad either has some assets/investments that you may not be aware of, perhaps he’s been a good saver, has purchased property, received a huge severance, has some income from somewhere, or has rec’d a sizable inheritance from a parent/grandparent. If he’s married, then his wife’s income would also be included. </p>
<p>The unfortunate fact is that whatever he has, it’s sizable. </p>
<p>Were you ever awarded child support, but he never paid? If so, it’s likely he has the assets/money to pay now. If he owes back child support, at least go for that money to help pay for your D’s education. </p>
<p>*Her other options are William and Mary with tuition scholarship, NYU with 3 scholarshisp, Fordum with tuition . These will still all be around the $11,000-$20,000 range but I am prepared for that amount. She also has the option of a small private that will be less than $5,000 but at the bottom of her list. Its the 50,000 plus that is impossible. *</p>
<p>Is William and Mary the most affordable option? If it is, I’d go there. It’s a great school. :)</p>
<p>Document everything and talk to the school. Right now, this weekend, you can work on preparing a narrative of the events; your relationship/pregnancy, contact the NCP has had with you and the student, amount of support he has provided over the years. Gather as much documentation as you can. Are there any third parties (schools, social workers, ministers, other related folks) who can provide any corroboration? Find and document everything you can, and contact the FA offices about it on Monday.</p>
<p>This is probably the main reason that you and your child needed to sit down and talk with the GC. I have one on on meetings with students my caseload junior and senior year, not to get into their business, but I explain their options, write request for non-custodial waivers and professional judgments at the beginning of the year. If your GC is aware of the situation, I would have the GC contact the financial aid office, explain the situation and ask what kind of information or documentation is needed for a non-custodial waiver or for the school to excercise professional judgement.</p>
<p>If you have had no/minimal contact with this person and he has not supported your child, you would have had grounds for a non-custodial waiver. However, waivers are hard to get after the fact (the school will now look at your situation as the NCP has the $$ and does not want to pay. the information is out there and the door and not be closed on it and the colleges will not treat it as it does not exist). There would really have to be some extenuating circumstances to be awarded one at this stage of the game.</p>
<p>Has the ex gotten married? If yes, then the stepmom’s income and assets are also used in determining the non-custodial EFC.</p>
<p>Remember that financial aid for 2010 is based on2009 income. You gotta love yoru kid more than you dislike him. This is time to put all of your stuff to the side, sit down and rationally talk about how much he is willing to borrow/pay for his daughter’s education. In order for your daughter not to receive any financial aid, her dad must have considerable income and assets. It there has been a change in his financial situation, then he is going to have to be the one to ask for a financial review and explain his situation.</p>
<p>IF you live in NYS, I would recommend taking non custodial dad to court for child support if you are not receiving support, or an upward modification if you are receiving support (child support is granted to the age of 21 in NYS). In addition, when you go to court, you can take the take the financial award letters which indicate that your ex has some sizeable incomes and assets and the court and order the tuiton payments or modify the order so that part of her education is covered.</p>
<p>Thank you. I had spoken with the Guidance Counselor and she told me I had to get him to fill out the form if she was to get any aid. I see now that it was a mistake. </p>
<p>My daughter is going to try to talk to him today and convince him to call the school about his change in income. I do wonder though if there has been no change and he just doesn’t want to pay. Not that I have any way of knowing.
We are from PA so I don’t think the Child custody suit is an option. Nor does my daughter want to go that route. </p>
<p>I just need to accept that its just not going to happen for her and although its a real shame. She will be successful anywhere she goes. </p>
<p>And she is taking it much better than I am.</p>
<p>sybbie: Thank you for saying one of the things I was afraid to say: that sadly, it’s much easier to pursue a waiver before the award comes out. It’s why I’m always telling people about that option early. We started asking about them in December and January of my son’s senior year and we could have done it even earlier. </p>
<p>Kellannah: I’m sorry your GC gave you possibly bad advice. Waivers can be difficult to come by, and sometimes people get used to just saying they’re not possible.</p>
<p>And yet, it does happen. If it was me, I would go into it without getting my hopes up, but go into it nonetheless. I’ve only personally known one person go in and ask for a NCP waiver, and as I said in the earlier post, it was after the NCP Profile had been submitted and after the preliminary award had arrived, and also had a NCP with significant income, and it was at a selective college… and yet they did get the waiver. And then they got it again at another selective college when the student transferred.</p>
<p>I’m not familiar with the financial aid process, but can’t you bring up this issue with the school or have your daughter do so? If your daughter is an extremely desirable applicant, maybe she can write a letter to her admission officer, who may perhaps speak on her behalf or connect her with the right person at the financial aid office? The top schools like Columbia are known to be very generous with financial aid. If your daughter turns down the acceptance offer because of financial aid issues, that even damages the school’s yield - colleges do their best to make sure the admitted students matriculate. All of these will work to your advantage.</p>