<p>My parents separated when I was younger and are now divorced. My mom (custodial parent) is remarried and alone makes roughly $70,000 a year. My dad (noncustodial) makes less than $20,000 and really pays her nothing. However, my step-dad makes roughly $90,000 a year, but will not pay for my college. I have only $7,000 in my college savings because my father left my mom with a lot of debt, and my mother spent most of her money on send me and my siblings to a private Jesuit high school. I have an older brother also in college, a younger brother in an $19,000 a year high school, and a two year old in a $12,000 a year day care. How will all of this factor into my aid packages. Most estimators predict I will end up paying a little over $20,000 a year. This seems too high. The primary schools I am worried about are Boston College and Princeton. I read online the Boston College only expects biological parents to pay for college. Will this increase my aid package, because I have also heard that BC is somewhat stingy with aid? Both schools promise to meet 100% of demonstrated need. Any helpful information would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>When your mom (custodial parent) files the FAFSA, she will have to include both her income and your step dad’s income. Your federal EFC will take into consideration that there aree 2 children in college (especially if your brother is part of your household living with mom & stepdad).</p>
<p>THe profile will ask for your mom/stepdad incomes. They will also require the non-custodial profile or their own FA forms. There will be a place on the CSS profile that will ask about monies they are paying for college and monies they are paying for high school. </p>
<p>BC states the following</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Princeton states</p>
<p>
</a></p>
<p>The estimators you see are not too high … they are too low. </p>
<p>You will need to file your FAFSA and Profile with info for both your mom and step-dad. You MIGHT need to include a Non-Custodial Parent supplement, depending on the school’s policy, for Profile. With $160,000 income, the EFC is going to be around $40,000 for FAFSA … not sure how BC and Princeton use Profile in awarding institutional aid.</p>
<p>Please re-read what you have written. Your family pays almost $20k/year for high school — which is not a necessity, but a choice. They pay $12k (or is it $24k total?)/year for child care, when less expensive child care is surely available. There is nothing wrong with the CHOICES your mom and step-dad have made … but you must understand that colleges only have a limited amount of money to award to students, and it goes to those who need it most. Your family is very fortunate, and schools are not likely to give you much, if any, assistance.</p>
<p>I am not sure where you are in the college process. If you are competitive for Princeton, you are competitive for excellent merit aid at other schools. Please be sure to look for schools where you have a chance of getting good merit scholarships … that is how you will be able to afford college.</p>
<p>You MIGHT receive some institutional need based aid from a very generous school while both you AND your sibling are in college at the same time. If it were me, and I were you, I would have a variety of college options out there, so that IF the money doesn’t pan out at BC or Princeton, you will have other options to consider. As noted, if you really have competitive admissions stats for BC and Princeton, you likely have the stats for some significant merit aid elsewhere that is NOT dependent on family income or having another sibling in college while you are.</p>
<p>Princeton does not use the Profile. Princeton has its own financial aid form. Your mom and stepdad will definitely have to be put on the FAFSA, Princeton’s form, and the Profile. At BC, you will have to submit the non-custodial parent Profile. At Princeton, you will not have to include your non-custodial parent info as you mom is remarried. </p>
<p>The reason your EFC per FAFSA is $20,000 is because you have a sibling in college next year at the same time as you. This splits your family EFC of $40,000 (estimate based on family income) roughly in half.</p>
<p>P.S. If your parents are currently allocating $19,000 a year for your high school costs, they should be able to continue to allocate the same amount for college. So…I’m not sure why you think a $20,000 estimated family contribution for college would be too high.</p>
<p>I missed the part where there was a sibling in college - I was focused on the ones in high school and in childcare. Yes, a bit over $20k would be right in this case. How is the older sibling paying for school? If your mom was paying $19k a year for you in high school, will she continue to pay that for college? I hope so … I would think that a rational person would expect to pay at least as much for college as for high school.</p>
<p>Kelsmom makes a good point. You already have a sibling in college (although this year he would have been the only college student, right). How is he paying for college? Does his college guarantee to meet full need for all students? If not, he might not see any increase in aid at all once you start.</p>