<p>I have a question for anyone out there concerning the CSS profile. Did it stop you from applying to some of the big name schools because they require non-custodial info? </p>
<p>The reason I ask is because my youngest daughter is a junior and ready to make her list of colleges where she would like to apply. Her dad and I are divorced and he makes 4x as much as I do. If a school uses only the FAFSA, her chances at need-based aid are very high. However, if a school requires a CSS and her dad's financial info, we feel that her chances are basically zilch. Also, we already know that her dad will not help with colleges expenses. She has two siblings in college now and their dad is no help financially. </p>
<p>Has anyone else had this problem? She is reluctant to apply to many schools (Princeton, Cornell, Brown, etc.) because she knows that they will require her dad's info. This is really dishearteing since she has a weighted GPA of 4.75 and is 6th in her junior class of almost 500 students. She is very active in school clubs and holds offices in several. She also peer tutors and volunteers in the community. It makes me ill to think that she could possibly get accepted to a big name school but have no way to pay for it!</p>
<p>Seems the dad is a jerk. Schools deal with jerks all the time and while i can't be sure, I would think they understand jerk. My niece has managed to pay for a great school this year despite her Dad being a jerk who had a first class education paid for by his family but won't chip in a nickel to a non-state school for daughter who chose to live with her mother over him. Anyway.. it's my impression that there are ways to get around some of that, but if nothing else, the answer is always no to things you never ask for.</p>
<p>I pretty sure this is actually a pretty common problem - I would talk to the school about this and see what they can do, as private schools can be pretty understanding.</p>
<p>There are other threads on what to do with non-cooperating non-custodial parents. Basically: It delays processing, so you have to apply early. You will have to explain it to the school, and hope they are receptive to your situation.</p>
<p>In reality, it's unlikely the schools will not count the dad. The are lots of parents who don't want to pay. The only way I've seen schools not count a dad is when he's been truly absent, has not paid child support and can't be found.</p>
<p>"It makes me ill to think that she could possibly get accepted to a big name school but have no way to pay for it!"</p>
<p>Lots of people are in that situation, so believe me, we feel your pain. However, frankly, the sooner you get over it the better, otherwise it will just eat at you both and will suck all the energy that you need to get through this process out of you. You need to focus instead on the good options that she does have. Given her profile, she has many.</p>
<p>We did not apply to Profile schools much after the first kid. D2 had a couple just to make sure the formulas were still the same and they were (this was before top school began limiting their inclusion of home equity to a percentage of income)</p>
<p>It was a true fact of life that our being home owners since the early 1980s would preclude us from privates with profile. Our mortgage now is lower than in the 1980s, but our home value continues to increase.</p>
<p>You can fight it, but it is the way it is. D1 & D2 did publics and D3 did a FAFSA only private.</p>
<p>I do know a kid who got a non-custodial parent waiver. His father has a fairly high income, and even went so far as to fill out the form, commit to paying a certain amount of college costs, but then when it was time to actually cough up the money, he refused.</p>
<p>They did have certain circumstances, though, that helped. The father had never even met the kid until he was 13 years old. He had never paid child support (and had never been asked to). Northwestern did grant the student the waiver.</p>
<p>Anyway, I agree with some other posters that it may not be likely in most cases. But aside from more affordable state univ. options, you could also look into privates that offer merit aid for top students. Merit aid isn't the same as need-based aid, so her father's circumstances shouldn't have any bearing. You would still have to submit the Profile form if the school requires it (and non-custodial parent information), but your daughter possibly could get some very good merit aid offers at some very reputable privates where her grades and test scores put her in the top 25% of admitted students.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your input. We kind of figured that there's not much we can do about it but thought I'd ask. She's concentrating on both public and private that don't require non-custodial info but she's also thinking about still applying to some more prominent private schools anyway. Also, since we live in NC, she has some great schools to choose from in-state, which helps.</p>