@thumper1 I understand the stepparent has, in the eyes of many colleges, an obligation to contribute to a college education. I’d simply prefer not to eliminate Columbia from my list of choices until I know for sure what their policy is. I’d rather not assume they will do one thing, and later find out they don’t do that one thing and regret not applying. I wanted to see whether people on this site had knowledge of Columbia’s procedure. And yes, my college list is primarily non-NCP schools or NCP schools who have more favorable procedures.