<p>If you don't feel like reading all this or don't have time to, please skip to the last two paragraphs/lines. Thanks.</p>
<p>So I submitted the CSS last night to Yale and the Non-Custodial Parent's portion is being finished up as I type. However, since Yale has a policy of only accepting students whose EFC = 0 (usually, income under $60k per year), I have a concern.</p>
<p>My mother's income is well under the $60k mark; I have no concerns about her. However, my father's and his wife's income/assets concern me. I do not know what they are, but they are undoubtedly higher than my mothers. I would estimate my father's income to be between $50k and $90k. My father's wife's income is unknown - they both work for the same self-run business, so I don't even know if she has a separate income. They also have a pretty expensive house and can afford to travel frequently (although largely for business).</p>
<p>However, my father does not contribute much at all to my mother, my sister, or I. We get only a few hundred a month in child support. He does not pay for my sister's college at all, and we do not expect him to contribute much (if anything) to mine either.</p>
<p>My concern is that the CSS profile won't accurately portray our situation. I don't want my application to not be considered for Yale College Match because of my dad's side of the finances when they won't affect me anyway. So my questions are:</p>
<p>How much does the Non-Custodial Profile weigh into a college's decision about EFC?</p>
<p>Also, does the Non-Custodial Profile cover the finances of the parent's spouse if they remarried?</p>
<p>As far as I have been able to determine, it doesn’t matter a hoot if your non-custodial father doesn’t FEEL like contributing to your education, he’ll have to, or you’re the one who’s out of luck. From a practical point of view that of course makes sense: almost no parent would pay up if his kid could instead get a free ride just because he refused to pay. Financial aid is for the truly needy, not the greedy.</p>
<p>As best as I have been able to find out, colleges will combine the income of the custodial and non-custodial parents, perhaps with a stronger weight given to the custodial parent’s income. If the non-custodial parent has remarried, they will take half the combined income of the two, combined with the income of the custodial parent (I’m pretty sure they take half because otherwise you could have a situation where the non-custodial parent does not work, yet the new spouse makes $1 million+ a year).</p>
<p>If your mother’s making $50-$60k a year and your father is making $50k-$90k a year, I doubt very much that you will have anywhere near a $0 EFC.</p>
<p>I understand why they would have to pay from the practical standpoint. I also understand that financial aid is for the needy, not the greedy. But just because my father makes money doesn’t mean that I’m being greedy; I honestly would not be able to attend a school like Yale without a hefty sum of financial aid. Since I am a QuestBridge finalist I know I am needy, I just want to know if I am considered needy enough for the College Match.</p>
<p>Plus, wouldn’t they have to consider the fact that there are two houses being paid for/run, etc? It’s not like both sides of the family live under one roof. It’s essentially two families with pretty low income paying for one child’s education. Furthermore, the non-custodial parent is considered non-custodial because he holds (to an extent) less responsibility for the child, correct? So wouldn’t his financial responsibility be less?</p>
<p>And what about any deals in divorce decrees? I don’t know if my parents had one for college, but I know it’s possible for a deal to be struck for the non-custodial parent to pay, say, 50% of the child’s education at a state flagship.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be condescending, I’m just trying to get a fuller understanding of how my financial situation will probably play out for me.</p>
<p>I really appreciate your taking the time to respond.</p>
<p>I’m sorry I can’t be more definitive, FallenAngel9, we are in the same boat. My son is a QB finalist and my ex-wife is the non-custodial parent who makes most of the income plus she has a new husband who also pulls in a regular paycheck.</p>
<p>I know that the CSS Profile makes some allowance for two families because the student gets counted twice, one in each family. Money already in a 401k or pension is not counted, and there is some allowance for home equity. There is also some allowance for free assets as one approaches retirement (50+), maybe $40k.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the Profile adds back in many income deductions allowed by the IRS and I’ve read that this especially happens for self-employed business owners. So your father’s income for the purposes of financial aid could be $10-$20k a year more than his IRS income.</p>
<p>If you no longer have any contact with non-custodial father, you may be able to file a waiver form to not have his income counted. Otherwise he will be expected to contribute via the college’s specific formula – and each college may well calculate the numbers differently.</p>
<p>I have no idea as to how the income of the custodial and non-custodial parents are weighted. Maybe they only add 2/3rds or even 1/2 of the non-custodial parent’s income to the custodial parent’s income. But there aren’t a lot of scenarios where you can add even a fraction of your father’s income to your mother’s income and still stay under $60k a year total. Your EFC is unlikely to be zero, but it could still work out to be cheaper than attending community college: $5k a year for a Yale education would still be a steal.</p>
<p>Fallen – the greedy comment above refers to the non-custodial parent who refuses to contribute… not to you.</p>