<p>I am filling out a NPC for a school that uses the College Board NPC (pretty common I think). Since my parents are divorced, many NPCs only ask info about the custodial parent. However, the College Board's NPC seems to ask for both parents' assets, income, etc. to be combined. Do I combine both parents assets or am I misunderstanding it? If the parents' assets are combined I am going to get like zero aid (need-based). :/</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Some schools take the noncustodial parent’s income and assets into account, and others don’t. I’d guess that this is reflected in the questions on the NPC. In other words, some NPCs will ask for custodial parent info only - and others will ask for both.</p>
<p>It is fairly well known that FAFSA only schools do not consider the non-custodial parent income and assets, while schools that use the College board Profile do use the income/assets of the non-custodial parent and the spouse of that ncp if there is one. That is why, although Profile schools tend to be very generous, they often will arrive at a higher EFC than the one indicated by FAFSA (and then most likely expect an even higher family contribution than the number indicated.)</p>
<p>Okay thank you for the answers. It appears that the schools that use Profile tend to offer few to no merit scholarships as well, so with the assets my family has those schools are all most likely out of the question.</p>
<p>Thanks for your help.</p>
<p>In my experience the NPC (regardless of if the school uses the CollegeBoard version or their own) does not allow for accurate EFC predictions for divorced and noncustodial situations. Your first step should be to determine if the school you are applying to requires noncustodial parent (NCP) information for FA application. Some schools use the CSS Noncustodial form, some use their own form (on each schools website) and some ask for noncustodial information on a case by case basis (2 I know of are Vanderbilt and William & Mary). </p>
<p>When you start to fill out the NPC (net price calculator) and they ask if your parents are married or divorced etc there is often a pop up that indicates that the NPC is not accurate for divorced situations. They typically ask for only custodial parent income on the NPC.</p>
<p>I am divorced and have been through this with 2 daughters. Most schools they applied to required the Noncustodial information. The FA awards varied. The NCP in our case was unemployed when D1 applied (which skewed the FA awards up) and got remarried when D2 applied (which skewed FA awards downward). My best recommendation is to apply widely - places where you are eligible for merit aid, schools that only count custodial parent, schools that meet 100% of need and schools that you can afford without need.</p>
<p>Tall order I know! Good luck I am sure if you are starting now with an open mind you can find a place you are happy with that you can afford.</p>
<p>Well I’m talking schools like Swarthmore and Amhearst and U of Chicago. The most generous aid schools seem to be most likely to require info from the noncustodial parent as well. Does this sound correct?</p>
<p>Okay, here’s the [url=<a href=“https://profileonline.collegeboard.com/prf/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet.srv]list[/url”>https://profileonline.collegeboard.com/prf/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet.srv]list[/url</a>] of Profile schools that do and do not require the NCP Profile. However, as noted above, a school may not require the NCP Profile, but still have its own form for collecting NCP info. So this list is a good place to start, but you’re going to need to follow up with each school individually to make sure that they won’t ask you for NCP info.</p>
<p>And there are some schools that meet 100% of need that don’t require NCP info . . . but I can’t tell you which ones.</p>
<p>Okay thank you very much for that list. That will help me avoid wasting time on certain schools. I hope to end up somewhere with great merit aid while also being a great school. Thanks again.</p>
<p>You should check each web site separately to verify the CB list in the link. Sometimes the list in the link is out of date.</p>