Is your mom remarried? If so, I believe Princeton does not consider your non-custodial parent. BUT if she is NOT remarried, your dad’s info would be required on Princetons form.
Re: University of Chicago. You can’t get accepted if you don’t apply. The school does very holistic admissions, and your essays will be extremely important on that application. If there is any way to do a Skype interview or something like that…you want to try to do it.
You seem to know a lot about your dad despite having no contact with him…ever. You know what state he is in, and maybe his actual income. How would you know these things without any contact with someone who knows where he is?
If you REALLY have no contact, and can provide significant documentation supporting that, you might get a waiver if the non-custodial parent Profile at SOME colleges. It’s worth inquiring about that.
You might be able to play a trump card on your dad, whether or not you’ve had contact. In the US, a NCP who owes more than $2,500 total in child support can have his passport revoked until past-due support is paid in full. If he travels at all, whether for business or pleasure, he’ll have to pay up. And, if his income is as high as you say it is, he will have to pay a lot more than $50/month (current max in Texas is about $1,750/month for one child).
We don’t even know if this divorce took place in the US or in India. People are making a lot of assumptions on what the father ‘should’ pay. This is a student guessing that his father makes millions of dollars. The student is now over 18 so it may be too late to get an adjustment.
the OP seems to have a good idea of what he can afford based on his mother’s income/assets. Go to a school that merit, Pell and the loan will cover.
The counselors there can help you work through the steps of the application process. They are familiar with the challenges of applying from India. There are a lot of US citizens in India, so there also is a fair chance that the some of the team at your advising center will have worked with an applicant like you before.
You need to come up with a full-ride, or as close to one as possible. Whatever cash you and your mom can scrape together will need to go to your plane ticket and your costs for settling in once you get here.
That your dad has not claimed you as a dependent on his income taxes in the past (and maybe he has been and you just don’t know) is not really material. He could claim you in the future while you are in college. Dependency for financial aid and for tax purposes are two different things. Lots of students are claimed on one parents income tax returns while they still are dependents of the other for financial aid.
@GuessME5 Looks like you’d receive almost a full ride to University of Alabama Huntsville with a 4.0, 1600… You’d just need to pay for food and misc with tuition and on campus housing covered. This is merit so your dad’s income/assets don’t matter. https://www.uah.edu/admissions/undergraduate/financial-aid/scholarships
You can cover with your Stafford loan ($5500 Freshman, $6500 sophomore, $7500 Junior/Senior) and a little help from your mom maybe. You should be trying to earn 2k every summer (in the US). You actually wouldn’t have much debt if you did that and your mom helped out with just 2k a year. Additionally you should try for a few local scholarships. You might get an extra 2k. If your stats hold. This would be a great guaranteed option (as long as UAH doesn’t change policy) especially for a STEM major. Huntsville is a great research area.
@gearmom if this student has a $0 EFC per FAFSA, he would also get the $5900 Pell Grant…would he be able to apply that to the additional charges at UAH?
The Pell plus the Direct Loan would be more than enough to cover the $7000…right? Student would get a refund for misc expenses.
@thumper1 I am NOT a CC financial aid expert but you very well may be right. He’d have very very little to worry about if he gets the Pell and a portion of his Stafford. His mom would not have to contribute. Smarter people on here have to sort that. But UAH would be a good quality amazingly affordable guaranteed (unless they change next year) deal. He’d end up with maybe, maybe 5-6k in debt, if he didn’t work summers. With summer work, he could have no debt if he gets the full Pell.
The only guaranteed scholarship @GuessME5 is eligible for is the Amigo which is an OOS tuition waiver. This still puts his COA at around $19K annually plus international transportation and mandatory health insurance.
The OP could apply for the UNM Regent’s Scholarship, but it’s a competitive scholarship and only 20/year are awarded, mostly to in-state students. The Regent’s is full ride plus. Full COA plus an additional $1000/year.
Minimum requirements for the Regent’s Scholarship are 3.9 GPA and 31 ACT/1430 SAT.
Successful applicants typically have higher stats, that include AP/IB credits or dual enrollment credits, plus outstanding ECs with leadership positions.
The Regent’s requires a separate application. The deadline for application is December 1. Student must also have applied for UNM admission before the Dec 1 deadline.
Typically the each parent has to pay 1/2 of the state universities tuition. Since you don’t live here I would assume that would be Texas since he lives in Texas
If you are talking about divorced parents being responsible for half of the instate tuition cost at the instate public where the family resides…that is not a uniform requirement, and is not the requirement in all 50 states.
Plus…that isn’t going to really help this student much…as one parent can’t pay anything…and the other won’t pay anything.
VERY IMPORTANT:
Public colleges are actually maybe the most expensive schools on your list.
Private college (including movies and other below 20% acceptance rate schools) actually usually provide VERY good financial aid to people with situations like yours. In all their financial aid applications, they also have spaces where in fact you can explain the specifics of your situation as you’ve done above. It’s highly likely that you’d be rejected from these schools, but at the same time your stats indicate that you have a better chance than maybe 60% of usual applicants, think about it like that. If you make yourself stand out as a person in essays and etc, you always have a chance.
Maybe I don’t know much, but I could imagine you getting a full ride to plenty top 30 schools.
Def use UChicago, Vanderbilt and Princeton as your reaches as they are FAFSA only schools from what I understand and will easily fall into your budget. Then hit low, schools where you are in the top 10-15%, schools with acceptance rates in the 25-40% range. Take the public schools off your list, except for the ones others here have indicated have set merit awards, money you can count on – don’t waste your time on app fees for the others. Breathe. With your stats, you will get into a school with a COA you can afford but you will have to work on your list.
@FourYearsornot@NEPatsGirl How can he get a full ride if his dad has millions but doesn’t want to pay? I think that he has to do this on merit not need.
@NEPatsGirl I think you are correct for Vandy and UChicago. Though I remember years ago someone complaining about UChicago NPC tax return required. Maybe they changed? Princeton looks like is has a NPC form though.
@thumper1, mom isn’t remarried, so I guess Princeton will inquire deep on NCP info. Maybe I could just search for his address on people search websites. I’ve known his income and other financial info through his brother, who talked to me years ago, but wouldn’t tell me where he is located exactly. So maybe I’ll have to avoid colleges with CSS profile. I’ll try hard for UChicago.
@tutumom2001, I guess those child payments case won’t work out now as I’m above 18 now. The divorce, which he filed for in Texas in 2004 (actually mom hasn’t challenged it, so she got a ex parte divorce, which is invalid in India according to Indian marriage laws as the marriage took place in India), mentioned he had to only pay $50/month. At that time, he intentionally left his job for 2 years. So I don’t know how he shouldve given out $1750/month, and if that’s the case then anyways I’m above 18,I don’t think there’s much to do about it.