CSS and noncustodial parent?

Paying for College
1

Hello, I live in California, and I am a CC student.

The only private school I am applying to is USC.

My EFC is 0.

However, the catch is, I live with my father, and my mother, re-married someone, and they live in Utah. He is a retired firefighter and I think his retirement is about 80k a year.

Given that USC uses CSS, and they take in-account for noncustodial parent’s, will this impact me or not? I am assuming it does, I just want to know for sure. I still have tons of options for UC’s and CSU’s, just would love an answer. :slight_smile:

Thank you.

2

Yes, the income from her and her new husband will factor into the financial aid at USC and other schools using the CSS Noncustodial Profile.

Using https://financialaid.usc.edu/undergraduates/prospective/net-price-calculator.html , be sure to include their income (as well as your father’s income) to get a financial aid estimate from USC (though the accuracy may be worse in the divorced parent situation).

3

Looks like private schools are a no go for me now :D. Oh well, I still have a chance to get into Berkeley and UCLA.

4

Note that not all private schools use the CSS Noncustodial Profile (or other forms requiring non-custodial parent information). See https://profileonline.collegeboard.org/prf/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet.srv .

5

^^^

True, but it sounds like this student needs excellent aid. The ones who don’t require NCP info are usually the ones that don’t meet need. An exception would be Vandy.

6

University of Chicago doesn’t use the Profile. It does have a short form of its own…but basically uses the fafsa.

To @CSUSMCougar please apply more broadly than Berkeley and UCLA. You are fortunate to have lots of good public universities in CA. It sounds like younalready know this :slight_smile:

7

first, worry about getting in… second, worry about how to pay. As a CA resident with a low income, tuition at UCs and CSUs will be pretty low. For USC, you simply don’t know until you see their offer. If your stats are strong, it could be cheaper than UCLA … but, that’s a high hurdle most HS students can’t clear…

what are your stats?

8

Sorry…but I feel the opposite. Figure out how much you can pay first. Sure…toss out a “maybe” application…but get a good list where you can afford to attend.

With an EFC of $0, this student should be eligible for a good Calgrant. Not sure how the Pell Grant is used by the UCs.

And as a third year student…he will,get a $7500 federally funded loan too.

To CA experts…what will a $0 EFC package look like at a CA public??

9

For EFC $0 students, UC NPCs tend to show a net price of $8,000 to $11,000, depending on campus. This is the expectation of the student taking federal direct loan and some work earnings. Note that FA changes to keep net price the same for on campus, off campus, snd commuter at most UCs.

The old CSU Mentor NPC tended to show net price around $5,000 for commuters, but $11,000 to $13,000 for on or off campus living, as there was no FA adjustment. But CSUs no longer have the CSU Mentor site.

Note that commuter student costs assume several thousand dollars if living and commuting costs.

10

Wow, tons of repilies, awesome. :D.

@mom2collegekids , I read that, and you couldn’t have said it better. Basically all the need-aid private schools, or are the ones that provide very good financail aid, require NCP.

I am applying to :
UCLA
Berkeley
UCR
UCSD
UCI
UCSB

CSU’s:
CSUSM
SDSU
CSUF
SJSU

all for applied mathematics/mathematics/ or statistics. My gpa is a 4.0 with decent EC’s from community college, and all major prepatory classes will be completed, and IGETC completed.

I actually read one college, Whittier, that gives good financial aid package, and doesn’t require NCP; I might apply to them. If anyone wants to suggest non-NCP private colleges located in Southern California that you think might give good financial aid, please do.

I wanted to go to a private school because it would be a smaller student-to-teacher ratio, and I feel like I would excel in an environment like that; I guess you could say for my major, CAL State Universities could have the same ratios, however, private schools have better reputations and connections than CSU’s.

Also, Thumper,

I was going to go to CSPUP this fall: This was my package

Cal Grant B Fees
Grant
Undergraduate
5,742.00
5,742.00

Cal Grant B Subsistence
Grant
Undergraduate
1,672.00
1,672.00

Supp Ed Opp Grant (SEOG)
Grant
Undergraduate
750.00
750.00

Pell Grant
Grant
Undergraduate
5,920.00
5,920.00

Direct Loan Sub - 1
Loan
Undergraduate
3,166.00
0.00

Total

17,250.00 (with loan)
14,084.00 (without loan)

11

Wait lol,

University of California’s also require Noncustodial parents income, too? I thought that was not the case.

If that is, then I guess I will just attend Cal State’s.

12

https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/transfers-major can give you an idea about admissions to various UCs.

Here are some NPC results assuming dependent California resident student living with 1 divorced parent with $20,000 income:

UCB: $9,000 on/off campus, $8,800 commuter, https://saservices.berkeley.edu/calculator/
UCSB: $10,000, https://www.finaid.ucsb.edu/net-price-calculator
UCR: $11,676 on campus, $9,613 off campus, $8,343 commuter, http://vcsaweb.ucr.edu/finaidmanualcalculator/
SDSU: $13,247 on campus, $11,125 off campus, $-136 commuter, http://studentaffairs.sdsu.edu/ofas2/NPCC/npcalc.htm
SJSU: $12,824 on campus, $12,108 off campus, $-1,288 commuter, https://vpsaweb2.sjsu.edu/faso/netpricecalc/npcalc.htm

  • = estimates $0 room and board costs for commuters, even though food and utilities at parent's house cost more than $0.

Actual costs for off campus and commuter situations can vary greatly, so it is possible that a student living off campus or commuting from parent’s house could have significantly higher or lower net price than the estimate, even if financial aid is as predicted.

13

You may want to look at the on-line class schedule for each school to see what the actual class sizes are. Upper division math courses are often on the small side.

14

@ucbalumnus

So just to clarify,

University of California school’s also require noncustodial parents as well?

For Cal State Poly Pomona, they did not, and they gave me 14k without a loan, which is far more than enough.
If this is the case, I will either go to CSUSM or SDSU.

My objective is to graduate without any debt.
So then, the best option for me, I assume are Cal State’s?

*also on the flip side, my brother graduated from Berkeley with a business degree, he had to get loans, but he went from high school to Berkeley.

Thank you for your assistance and intelligent replies.

15

@CSUSMCougar

What is your intended major?

16

No, they do not. UCs as well as CSUs need only FAFSA.

If you want to minimize debt (even federal direct loans of $7,500 per year for junior and senior years), then the choices are likely:

  • CSU that you can commute to.
  • UC if you get a Regents' or similar scholarship that replaces some or all of the student loan and work expectation.
  • CSU or UC otherwise if you earn a lot of money from summer and part time school year work.
17

@thumper1

Applied math/ math/ statistics. =[]

@ucbalumnus

Perfect, ty.

CSUSM is about 35 mile commute, but I would save tons of money going there =].

Also, I will still apply to UC’s, and I will have them on Fafsa, just incase they give me some generous scholarships.

Well I am glad I am informed with all of this information now.

18

Is Cal Poly SLO on your list?

19

Your post-graduation goals? Some math departments may have better offerings for some post-graduation goals than others.

20

@thumper1

I will add them, I was considering either SJSU or Cal Poly SLO.

@ucbalumnus

I was thinking an actuary position, as I was going to start studying for actuary exams soon.

However, there is always the option of myself going to graduate school for mathematics. That is true. My calculus professor is around 27 years old, he went to CSUSB for undergrad, and he tried going to UCSD or UCLA for graduate degree, but he didn’t place well on the GRE for graduate school; so he opted to UCR because they do not require GRE.

I guess I have some deciding to do. =P