<p>okay, so I have absolutely no idea where my father is and neither does my mom. I have already submitted my mom's portion of the CSS profile today and stated the situation in the ES (explanation of special circumstances). My father is American and my mom grew up in Japan, came over here to live with him. He left her and abused her..blah, blah :/ after I was born.</p>
<p>So what I want to know is how exactly this noncustodial waiver works out
and how I can support with documentation that I really don't know where my father is from my guidance/teachers. </p>
<p>Just for reference, I'm applying to Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Cornell, Vanderbilt, and other ones. My income bracket is way under that $60k Harvard, Yale and the others set for practically full financial aid.</p>
<p>I appreciate any help because this financial aid stuff is really scary. I have to fill out everything because my mom has a really hard time understanding these kinds of stuff, especially with her broken English. I've worked so hard alone to come this far...</p>
<p>Have you talked to your guidance counselor about this yet? Does a minister or some other professional know about your family’s situation? You’ll need to contact each of the financial aid offices at each school you applied to, and let them know. They may ask for documentation from a school counselor or someone else that can confirm that his whereabouts are unknown. Was the abuse ever documented via report to the police? That would also be a possibility. Did your mom have contact with a social worker or counselor at any point – perhaps with a group that helps immigrants? Did you ever talk with anyone about this before now? A middle school counselor? Doctor? I would start with your high school counselor and go from there.</p>
<p>Yes, my high school counselor knows my situation very well. No the abuse wasn’t documented, but she did file a restraining order…can that count? My middle school shut down, and at my elementary school - no one t is left at the school we know:/ </p>
<p>So, the person has to be a professional? Can he be a retired Air Force Colonel - he’s sort of my “mentor” through this scholarship program from my county that helps low-income students go to college and one of the requirements of this scholarship is to have a mentor - since most of the kids that get it have a high possibility of doing bad in school and need guidance…not me. But he knows my family very well. </p>
<p>Okay, so I need official documentation from my school’s guidance counselor and maybe others and mail/fax it to all my schools and contact all my schools individually. Wow, here I go… Thank you sooo much arabrab!</p>
<p>Great – best of luck to you going forward. Your guidance counselor may have dealt with this kind of situation before – if so, I’d do it whatever way he/she suggests. It probably works best if your guidance counselor faxes/mails the information to each of your schools – I suspect that the FA offices like it better that way.</p>
<p>I have the same situation, with parents reversed. I hope you find a solution to your question. I contacted a few of the colleges, and sent in a letter of verification from my guidance counselor.</p>
Thank you sooo much arabrab!</p>