<p>I haven't seen or spoken to my father in 10 years. He has never paid child support or alimony. He lives in Saudi Arabia and the only means by which I have to contact him is Facebook. </p>
<p>I'm not sure if my father has money or not. Last I heard, he didn't have a job, but that was awhile ago, so things may have changed. Even if he does have a steady income, I know he would never send a cent my way for financial aid. I can contact him through FB, but he responds erratically (I think he doesn't have an at-home internet connection). Basically, everything about this is rather complicated for me. What should I do? Would it be best to try to explain the situation to my colleges, or should I just suck it up and try to get my father to fill out the form?</p>
<p>For those colleges that require non-custodial parent (NCP) financial info (and not all of them do), apply for an NCP waiver.</p>
<p>There may or may not be a specific form that the school requires you to complete, but you will be asked to explain the situation: how long has your father been absent, what support has he paid, etc. You will then also be asked to submit the statement of a non-family member to corroborate these facts - this might be a social worker, minister, school counselor . . . someone who knows your family circumstances well enough to say, “yes, it’s true, Dad hasn’t been around for years.”</p>
<p>Try both. Get those NCP waivers in action. Start working on Dad about filling out the PROFILE forms. I don’t know when you will get notification of whether your waiver is granted. It is by school, so some schools may grant it, and others may not. For a lot of schools having a dead beat parent is not reason enough for such a waiver, whereas at others, they are more lenient. I know that at some schools if you even know where you father is, the waiver is denied.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice! I have a feeling this won’t be a very pleasant process. Augh, I know the colleges are just trying to gather as much information as possible for financial aid considerations, but it feels like I’m being punished for having a terrible father. </p>
<p>Haynad - You’re not going to be punished for having a terrible father. If he really is out of the picture (and beyond reach), many colleges will acknowledge that fact and relieve you of the obligation to provide his financial info. Trust me, it would be far worse if you lived under the same roof with your deadbeat dad . . . in that case, you’d have almost no chance of getting a waiver!</p>