<p>Bandit, </p>
<p>You are absolutely right that no parent, married, divorced, or anything in between has a legal obligation to pay for college for their "adult" child. However, colleges do look at it as a moral and a social obligation and it does not negate the fact that the college has an expectation that both of the students parents are going to pay for college.</p>
<p>If Op is going into this knowing that his NCP is not going to pay for college then s/he needs to look for schools where he stands a good chance of getting merit money that is not dependent on income or look at schools that only require info from the custodial parent.</p>