divorced parents' EFC

Paying for College
1

<p>My parents are divorced. Their 'combined income' is around $170,000, but they have completely separate finances (two mortgages, two sets of utilities, car payments etc). I have pretty much no college savings (BAD planning!). Both my parents are currently in somewhat dire straits financially and have told me that together they can't imagine being able to summon much more than $20,000 a year. </p>

<p>My mother is currently considered my 'custodial parent' and has somewhat less equity and overall assets than my dad (about $200,000 less). They both make almost exactly the same amount of money. Is this a strategic arrangement or are both parents' finances (custodial and non-custodial) considered equally? I have heard some difference in this situation between CSS- and FAFSA-accepting schools, can someone explain the difference? </p>

<p>I'm not sure if it's relevant, but here is some basic academic information and where I'm applying so far:</p>

<p>white, female, very competitive public school (nc), top 5 percent (15/300)
2200 SAT (800R, 740M, 680W, retaking next month)
national merit semifinalist
3.66 unweighted, 4.6 weighted</p>

<p>brown, chicago, unc, nc state, tufts, reed</p>

2

<p>Unfortunately Brown, Chicago, Tufts and Reed will probably be out of reach if they are serious about paying $20K together. These schools will probably expect double that at minimum and my guess is you would be full pay with the assets if you’re the only child in college and there are no extraordinary medical expenses.</p>

<p>You will of course do best at FAFSA only schools where they will only consider your mother and won’t look at home equity. Most of those, however, either are not in league with the schools you are looking at and/or don’t meet need.</p>

3

<p>In their divorce agreement was there anything stipulated about your college expenses and whether parents should have to provide support? I know that in some states, this is becoming more common. It actually should become more commonplace as more parents do expect their kids to go to college. Too many kids are getting screwed by parents in such situations.</p>

<p>You really need to have some financial safeties on your list. With your stats, you could get a free ride or nearly a free ride at a few colleges. Since your parents EFC is going to be higher than they can afford, you need to have some other options in your scenario.</p>

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<p>First of all, it sounds like they are giving you a “best case scenario”. It sounds like they are saying…The best we might be able to do is come up with $20k per year. What that really means is: If at some point during the next four years, some other financial burden comes upon either of us, we won’t be able to pay $20k per year…(BTW…would that $20k be evenly split? Or would there be some odd expectation that one would pay more than the other - even tho incomes are equal???)</p>

<p>I wouldn’t trust such a situation unless they each were willing to put something in writing that they each will pay $10k per year (and I don’t know how enforceable that would be). Divorce situations are very different than married situations. All it would take is for one parent to quit paying his/her share (or to not pay his/her full share) and a big problem would happen. </p>

<p>I’d hate for you to pick a school where you would need their $20k per year, only to have one or both decide later that they can’t pay it anymore. If that were to happen, you couldn’t go back and accept a strong financial safety offer.</p>

<p>I know it doesn’t seem fair that someone who worked as hard as you have done, should have her hopes ditched just because her parents (who have good incomes) didn’t prepare for her college costs, and then divorced (which likely cost a lot of money in lawyer fees). Their divorce costs may be one reason that their financial situation is in dire straits. You probably feel like you’ve been left “holding the bag.” :(</p>

<p>But, you must come up with some financial safeties…you don’t want to be only left with some unaffordable choices in the spring. You need to have at least one or two financial safeties that will provide some automatic money for you. Don’t be too upset at the thought…there are some wonderful universities that would give you a free ride.</p>

<p>Lucky for you, your stats are very high, so you could also apply to a good school that has a competitive full-ride scholarship (but don’t only rely on that…that can’t be your financial safety…you might not get awarded that scholarship.)</p>

<p>I am guessing that you’ll likely make NMF…did you complete your paperwork?</p>

4

<p>I actually do know that $10,000 per year per person is in the divorce agreement, and since it is a legally binding contract it is within my right to sue if funds aren’t provided (pretty empowering…yikes). </p>

<p>Practically speaking, UNC is my financial and academic safety. Both of my parents are staff there and my dad is an alumnus. Without any sort of aid, UNC would be under 15 a year. I am EXTREMELY grateful that a school as reputable as UNC is pretty much in the bag on all counts, but it is a little heartbreaking to face staying in your hometown for another four years. </p>

<p>Even in the worst case, (if UNC is my only option) study abroad and the Honors program will probably make my time in Chapel Hill more than palatable. There is always graduate school! I can’t complain too much. </p>

<p>And yes, I turned in my paperwork last week :)</p>

5

<p>I just want to commend the OP on her attitude. Making the best of a less than perfect situation w/o dissing the parents and seeming entitled will get you far in life.</p>

<p>Squeeze those lemons and your lemonade will be sweet :-)</p>

<p>All the best to you.</p>

6

<p>Glad to hear that your parents’ divorce decree mandates the $10k payments. However, since these are your parents, and such payments might be difficult for them, it would be a good thing to find a good school with good merit so that you won’t have to depend on their 10k payments. It is very hard (emotionally and financially) to sue your parents if one or both has a worsening financial situation in the next few years. </p>

<p>Also, since it is very likely that your parents EFC will exceed the $10k each that they are legally required to pay, you really need to look at some full-ride options so that you won’t have to take out excessive amounts of student loans to cover your F/A PLUS the EFC shortfall. That could easily be $35k per year in loans for a $55k per year school. An F/A package is very likely going to include student loans. I don’t think it’s a good idea for any undergrad to borrow $120k for school.</p>

<p>OK…So, UNC-Chapel Hill is your local in-state safety (Boy, a lot of kids would LOVE that! :slight_smile: ) But, I understand that it’s your “local” school and you’d rather go away to school. I know some NMF kids whose parents work at Duke, and they’d get a great discount, but they chose to accept a full-ride at UAlabama because they wanted to go away to school. They can go to Duke for grad school, because they won’t mind living at home then. LOL</p>

<p>It sounds like you need more than one financial safety because UNC doesn’t fulfill your wishes to “go away”. So, apply to one or two more financial safeties that will allow for that experience. There is a thread that lists full-rides for NMFs. My son is an NMF, and he also chose the full-ride at UAlabama. He loves it there; the academics are strong, and the social aspect is very good for him. He’s in the Computer-Based Honors Program - a very academically competitive program - avg ACT is a 33). My younger son chose to go there, too, after seeing DS1’s happiness level there.</p>

<p>Also, since you have such high stats, you might want to apply to one “financial match” that has a competitive full-ride scholly (for instance, at Rice, Vandy, or Emory). Personally, I’m not a big fan of competitive schollies because you often have to put forth a lot of effort (including a trip for an interview) for a small chance of getting an award. However, if going to such a school is important to you, the effort may be worth it.</p>

<p>In the long run, I think it would be best for you to pursue some good merit money that would cover most/all of your school expenses to minimize your need to depend on your parents. Since it sounds like your mom’s assets are significantly less than your dad’s, it would be nice if she could spend the next few years improving her financial situation.</p>

<p>Another option…is it possible that if you get good merit $$ for undergrad that you could then use some of your parents’ $$ for grad school? Perhaps you could get your parents to sign something that would delay their expected payments until grad school. This would give them 4 years to get their own financial situations in order.</p>

<p>Here are some colleges that give good merit $$ to NMF</p>

<p>NMF FULL TUITION+</p>

<h2>Publics</h2>

<p>U of Alabama (NMF full ride )
Auburn U <a href=“full%20tuition+%20guaranteed”>AL</a>
U of Arizona (full ride guaranteed)
Arizona State U (NMF in-state full ride [15k] & OOS full tuition+ [23k], NMSF in-state full tuition+ [9k] & OOS 10.5k guaranteed)
U of Central Florida (NMF full tuition+ & NMSF 9k guaranteed)
Florida A&M U (NMF OOS full tuition guaranteed - other qualifications, see University Scholarships - Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University 2009)
U of South Florida (NMF full ride competitive - <a href=“http://usfweb2.usf.edu/Admissions/pd...on-florida.pdf[/url]”>http://usfweb2.usf.edu/Admissions/pd...on-florida.pdf&lt;/a&gt; | <a href=“http://usfweb2.usf.edu/Admissions/pd...an-florida.pdf[/url]”>http://usfweb2.usf.edu/Admissions/pd...an-florida.pdf&lt;/a&gt;)
University of Idaho (NMF full ride competitive [25])
Ball State U <a href=“NMF%20full%20ride%20guaranteed”>IN</a>
Eastern Kentucky U (in-state full ride & OOS full tuition- guaranteed)
U of Kentucky (full ride 1st year & full tuition+ remaining 3 years guaranteed)
Mississippi State U (NMF full tuition+ )
U of Southern Mississippi (NMF/SF full ride competitive)
U of Nebraska-Lincoln (full tuition+ guaranteed)
Ohio State U (full tuition competitive)
U of Oklahoma (full tuition+ guaranteed)
Texas Tech U (OOS full tuition [12.7k] guaranteed)</p>

<h2>Privates</h2>

<p>Baylor U (full tuition guaranteed)
<em>Birmingham-Southern C (full tuition and competitive for more)
^</em>Denison U (full tuition competitive)
^Fordham U (full tuition+ competitive)
^Northeastern U (full tuition competitive)
^*U of Tulsa (full ride competitive [70-80])</p>