<p>My son has not seen his dad or gotten any support from him in 10 years. I have a moderate income but can't afford college. I am head of household and have a younger son My college bound son has a good academic standing.Where do I start? the state of NJ has any resources or consideration for children of dead beat dads. we don't even know where he is.
AD</p>
<p>Is your son a HS senior this year? If so, has he applied to any colleges already? What is your son’s unweighted GPA and SAT/ACT scores?</p>
<p>Here’s some info about NJ aid, not necessarily based on dead-beat dads but lower income in general.</p>
<p><a href=“The Official Web Site for The State of New Jersey | Grants, Financial Aid & Scholarships”>http://www.state.nj.us/nj/education/aid/</a></p>
<p>Is he a senior or junior? What colleges is he considering. For federal aid, the FAFSA needs to be completed and it is pretty much the base required by all colleges, and only the custodial parent needs to complete it , so in your case, the dad would be out of the picture for that.</p>
<p>Some colleges also require a form called PROFILE that tends to go into further detail about family finances and possibilities. The schools that tend to give the most aid tend to use this form, and some guarantee to meet full need as defined by their formula using info on that form. A lot of those schools do require Non Custodial Parent (NCP) info, and in a case like yours, you would call each such college on your kid’s list or look on the web site, for directions on how to get the NCP waiver for that school. GOtta do it for each, and it usually requires a statement completed by a third party, usually the school GC. You might want to talk to that person at your son’s high school. S/he is likely very familiar with the process,and you can prepare her and yourself in getting the info required for that person to write the NCP waiver request. </p>
<p>Most aid comes from the school when one gets into the private college and sleep away schools. You should run some of your numbers through the EFC estimator which will give you an idea of what the least is that you will expected to pay, and also run the Net PRice Calculators on the sites of some colleges your son has in mind so you can get some feel for what they estimate they will provide and expect you to pay.</p>
<p>Read the Financial Aid FAQs and Resources threads stickied at the top of this forum.</p>
<p>Thank you so much . this information is very helpful. He is finishing his junior year. </p>
<p>Good, you have time. Are you willing to share what your ‘moderate’ income is? People have different definitions of what moderate is. It will help people in assisting with strategies for you and giving you more precise info. Will you be able to contribute any amount each year? That’s the first thing to determine, what that amount is. Also did he take the PSAT this year? If you provide GPA, PSAT score, class rank if the school ranks, that will also help. For FAFSA only your financial info will be required. For schools that use CSS profile or their own financial aid forms you will likely have to pursue a non-custodial parent(NCP) waiver.</p>
<p>I just used one of those calculators using my 2013 data , , not good news for me if that is accurate.
my AGI is 97,770. His GPA is 3.8 and his PSAT 1750. A NCP waiver? Thank you so much</p>
<p>sorry psat 175, and yes i would probably be able to contribute but not more than 6 or 7 thousand per year.</p>
<p>Little, there are net price calculators on each college website. If you put your financial info into these, you will get an estimate of potential net costs at each college you do. Make sure you do each one as the policies on awarding need based aid vary from school to school.</p>
<p>HOWEVER, the NPCs currently online are really for current high school seniors or other first year college students as of fall 2014. SOOOO. Remember to do them again fall of your son’s senior year in high school.</p>
<p>Your income is too high to qualify for the Pell Grant, and likely SEOG which are the two federally funded grants.</p>
<p>If I were a guessing woman, I would say your EFC (expected family contribution) with an income of $97,000 is going to be in the $25,000 a year range.</p>
<p>Wow, thanks</p>
<p>Your son’s grades put him in the range for merit money if he can hit 30 or more on the ACT or 2000 or more on the SAT. So have a little chat with him about that, and read through the threads on merit-based aid that are at the top of this forum.</p>
<p>Thanks , there is some hope. I will</p>
<p>Yes, you can see what a parent in your situation with your means is expected to pay. There are college options in lower price ranges, which may mean that your son does not go away to college,as most kids do not. With what you say you could contribute, and if your son works a few hours a week and summers, maybe takes out a Direct Student Loan , a local state school is very possible. Look at the costs of your in state school for going away. With about $7K from you out of current income, maybe the same in loans, and your son coming up with $10K or so in loans and jobs per year, going away to a state school MIGHT be possible. Also schools where your son’s stats are in the upper %s, there might be some merit money. Be aware that getting large merit awards is no easy task.</p>
<p>But when your son puts together is list, all of these things should be considered. Make sure some affordable options, ones that you know are affordable are included.</p>
<p>Thanks ! </p>
<p>“I just used one of those calculators using my 2013 data , , not good news for me if that is accurate.
my AGI is 97,770. His GPA is 3.8 and his PSAT 1750. A NCP waiver? Thank you so much”</p>
<p>(that is not a “moderate income” for a single parent with two kids. )</p>
<p>The NCP waiver only means that HIS income won’t count. </p>
<p>However, YOU have a high income…especially with only one adult in the home…the calculation will be HARSHER on you. </p>
<p>The fact that you’re a single parent won’t help you (it hurts you) because many two parent homes don’t have your income. </p>
<p>YOUR issue is that you have an unaffordable EFC. You say that you can pay $6k (about $500 a month).</p>
<p>So, with your $6k and a $5500 student loan from your son and maybe some summer earnings from him…that will ALMOST cover room and board and books.</p>
<p>So…that means he needs AT LEAST a full tuition scholarship. </p>
<p>Schools that simply “meet need” will be worthless to you unless your son gets into HYPS. All the other “meets need” schools will hand you a bill of about $25k.</p>
<p>Good for you for coming here early, in your kid’s junior year. If your EFC is unaffordable (whether or not your ex’s income is included), you have time to investigate and get your kid moving on some guaranteed merit scholarship opportunities that exist (as noted, in the threads at the top of this forum). </p>
<p>A few directions to look at:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Run net price calculators on each school of interest to get an idea of net price based on need-based aid.</p></li>
<li><p>Take a look at the automatic and competitive scholarship sticky threads at the top of this section. He may want to try both the SAT and ACT this spring with the goal of hitting the scholarship thresholds. Then that leaves next fall for another chance with the initially-higher of the two tests with additional preparation.</p></li>
</ol>