I’m a divorced parent who has begun to research aid for my daughter who will apply this coming fall for the first time. Is there an accurate way to use the net price calculators to get an estimate of need based aid when parents are divorced? Can anyone share their experiences with how you determined schools were in your budget? It doesn’t seem practical to contact every school we are researching. Thanks!
In most cases, the net price calculators should be viewed as an estimate only given your situation. There are some that do ask marital status. These will be more accurate.
A lot also depends on the financial aid policies of the schools. If your daughter is applying to Profile Schools that require the non-custodial parent information, that will need to be considered in any estimates you get. Keep in mind, schools treat non-custodial parent income in different ways.
If the college is a school that only uses the FAFSA, the non-custodial parent income and assets wont be considered, but any child support or spousal support from 2018 will be used on the 2020-2021 financial aid forms.
Some folks have suggested using the net price calculators and doing two…one for custodial parent and one for non-custodial…and adding the results together, being very careful NOT to include duplicate awards (only one Direct Loan, only one Pell Grant, only one set of work study money, etc). But really, this would be a very gross estimate.
Unfortunately, you need to carefully research each specific college, which may require contacting the college if its web site does not have clear instructions on how to use the net price calculator in a divorced parent situation.
There are two numbers that you need to know before you get lost down the rabbit hole of financial aid:
1- How much YOU can pay. This is likely to be a combination of your college savings (if any), how much you can divert from your current income, the federal loan amounts for your D plus her savings, earnings, etc. Get a handle on what that number is. Don’t be one of the “If you get into college XYZ we’ll make it work” families. Mainly because- it usually doesn’t work, but also because it means you waste a whole lot of emotional energy falling in love with a college you can’t afford. Yes- finding out how much aid you’re eligible for is important- but not nearly as important as doing a granular review of your lifestyle, budget, assets, etc.
2- How much (if anything) your D will get from the other parent. Is it part of the divorce decree and there haven’t been issues with child support payments? Great- then you know that number. If it’s not part of the divorce decree, or every month there’s been another sob story about why you’re getting $20 instead of what the actual obligation is, then perhaps your D can have a sit-down to discuss college. If the reaction is “You can work your way through like I did” then you know the number is going to be small or non-existent. If the reaction is “I’m happy to do my part but want to be part of the process of finding a college” then you know there will be some cooperation.
Start your research knowing what your budget is going to be. You may discover early on that your D isn’t going to qualify for need based aid. In which case- it’s early enough that you switch to merit award colleges. And if her stats aren’t high enough for those- it’s time to research your in-state public options, or something close by where she can commute to limit costs to tuition, books, and transportation (usually MUCH less than room and board).
Oh…and if you do decide to do NPC for the non-custodial Parent…you will need a copy of their 2018 tax return to complete the NPC. Will they give you that? If not…garbage in garbage out. The NPC needs to be done with accuracy 2018 tax figures.
And another thing…those NPCs are currently set up for students starting fall 2019…not fall 2020. And financial aid policies do change.
Is either parent self employed, or own a business? Is the non-custodial parent remarried…because you need spouse info as well. Does anyone own real estate other than their primary residence?
Agree with @blossom you need to know your budget. That’s the signal. Everything else is the noise.
It’s hard. But if the other parent is cooperative, you can get an idea by combining the two incomes in the NPC and then it may perhaps be somewhat better than that.
Thanks, everyone. Ex husband and I have determined how much we will each contribute towards the upcoming costs , and I know his income figure. I was just was hoping to get a feel for if there is any way to use the NPC to come any where close to the actual aid received by families with divorced parents.
If the NPC does ask for parents marital status (like those using the College Board template), then fill it in as asked (indicating divorced) and hope that the college put the correct formula for divorced parents into its version of the NPC.
But also check the college’s web site for any special instructions.
Note that you also need to know his assets as well as income for the NPC. Not knowing the correct financial information of the other parent is probably a common source of NPC inaccuracy.
You have an established budget per year for what you parents will pay. You need to look for colleges that fit that budget. Is this student applying to colleges that guarantee to meet full need for all accepted students? If not, really the only guaranteed award would be the Direct Loan…and that is $5500 for freshman year.
The very vast majority of colleges do not guarantee to meet full need for all accepted students. Some colleges don’t give many grants at all.
Have you looked at your instate public options? Are they affordable?
Will this student have a High GPA and high SAT or ACT scores which would open the doors to both admissions to more generous colleges…or the potential for significant merit aid?
Not really.
You might be able to get a ballpark amount by running the calculation twice, once for each parent as if that parent were single & were the custodial parent – and then add those numbers together (but don’t double count assets or income that belong to the child). You sound fortunate that your ex is cooperative – it can be quite difficult when the NCP is not forthcoming about income/assets or has complicated finances – or when the NCP’s income is being counted but the NCP is not willing to contribute actual $$ toward college costs.
You also can’t double count aid (kid can only take one set of federal loans and one work study, for example).
I was in your position and had a general idea of my ex’s income. I ran the NPC twice, once with my numbers and once with what I guessed were his. My results were in range with what was eventually awarded. Note, though, that even between schools that meet full need, the actual awards differed by as much as $10K.
If you run the NPCs as suggested above, and it looks like you could get the aid that would work with your budget, you can move forward knowing that the schools with the most generous aid also are generally the most selective. So, the list could then include some schools that are within budget without aid, some schools where merit aid is targeted, some schools that may give the best aid (assuming your daughter likes those schools and is competitive for them) and maybe a couple that are not uber selective where you will take your chances that the aid would work out for your daughter. My ex has completed financial forms but has paid nothing toward college expenses and his income/assets definitely have a big impact on the aid my kids have been offered. The financial aid packages from meets full need schools have varied widely. I’ve been through this twice.