To all who have responded to this thread, I wanted to provide an updated policy, given to me by Columbia’s financial aid office as of today (July 26th, 2017).
I inquired given I have a non-custodial stepparent and no custodial stepparent. With that circumstance in mind, Columbia responded and stated unequivocally that they only consider the incomes of the two biological parents in determining expected family contribution. Columbia does, however, consider assets jointly held by a biological parent and stepparent, if there are any. But there’s a good answer to this question. Columbia will ultimately only consider the biological incomes. Maybe the situation is different with a custodial stepparent, but that’s what I was told. Hope this helps!
@lisabees this seems close to what you experienced. Thanks for the insight!
@sybbie719 perhaps this is different from what you learned?