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The non-custodial parent enjoys an annual income in the range of $200,000. However, I am clear that he has no intention of contributing financially beyond the purview of what is legally required. In California, a parent’s legal obligation ends at the age of eighteen.
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Sadly, this situation is no different than intact families where high income parents refuse to pay for college, and in those cases, colleges don’t provide just because parents won’t pay.
Colleges don’t care if child and parent don’t live in the same states. Colleges don’t care that the parents were never married. Parents are parents.
In this case, the dad has been paying support.
since your son is only a frosh, I suggest that you explain to him this likely trouble with schools that are on his list…and help him find other schools that won’t require his dad’s info or dad paying. He can still “try” with a couple of these schools, but he needs to look at those attempts as “lottery” situations…don’t count on them. (and many/most/all of those schools don’t give merit scholarships).
Since he is a frosh and has a good score for a frosh, then he has the potential to improve by a few hundred points by the time he’s a senior, which can qualify him for large merit awards at OTHER schools.
It’s best to find this stuff out now, before a child really gets his heart set on a school. BTW…it’s best that a child NOT get their heart set on any particular school…that is just too risky.
Stay on CC and identify some schools that will likely be affordable due to merit or aid based only on YOUR income. Visit those schools.