<p>What am I supposed to fill out on financial aid forms?</p>
<p>My mother is single, never married, and has 5 children (including me, I’m the oldest).
She makes < 30,000 annually.</p>
<p>My father is married, but does not have custody of me. He has only paid minimum child support over the past few years. Other than that, he isn’t in my life.</p>
<p>I already know that he won’t be contributing to my college education and I expect him not to (he has even said himself that he can’t wait until I turn 18, so he can have ‘more money to himself’).</p>
<p>Also, he just recently lost his job a few months ago, so my mother hasn’t been getting child support from him.</p>
<p>I’m trying to maximize my financial aid, but at the same time I don’t want to do anything ‘illegal’.</p>
<p>Is Barnard a Fafsa only school, or do they also require the CSS Profile?</p>
<p>If it is a Fafsa only school you will list the resources of your custodial parent (your mother). I believe she will need to list the child support payment she HAS received from your father, but his assets will not be listed on the Fafsa.</p>
<p>If it is a CSS Profile school you will likely need to also list his resources on the Profile form (if they are required).</p>
<p>It appears they will require income and asset information from your father in order to calculate aid. However, I do not believe you would put this information on the Fafsa… ONLY on the Profile.</p>
<p>Calmom has had to deal with issues surrounding non-custodial parents, I believe. Hopefully she will see this and chime in.</p>
<p>Let me say, first, that I am so sorry you have had to deal with this all of your life. I would strongly suggest that you contact the Barnard financial aid office and talk with someone about this. Hopefully they can guide you. And yes, Barnrad does require the CSS profile…</p>
<p>Send Barnard’s financial aid office an email and request a Noncustodial Parent Waiver Petition. The waiver is not automatic - that will be up to Barnard. My daughter’s situation is slightly different - we have had no financial support or contact from her father in over 14 years and his whereabouts are unknown. Barnard supplied me with a Noncustodial Parent Waiver Petition - a two page form and asks you to supply a statement about your financial statement and the noncustodial parent.</p>
<p>I agree that contacting the Barnard aid office is the way to go. Explain your circumstances, fill out the waiver others mention above. </p>
<p>Barnard appears to really want to assist qualified applicants attend. Their financial aid website is very comprehensive. I am sure they will be able to assist you with accurate information. </p>
<p>I have this problem, too. But all of the colleges I called just said to write “unknown” on the CSS form, or something like that. I should say, all but Haverford. I told them there was no way he would ever give us his financial information, but they didn’t care. So I couldn’t apply there. Their loss.</p>
<p>Most FA people are sympathetic to the kids of deadbeats, though.</p>
<p>I’m in a similar situation, except that my dad is literally absent (we haven’t heard from him in the past two and a half years). My mom called each school I’m applying to and asked what we should do about the forms and stuff, and each one said something a little different but basically a variant of the same thing: they want a letter explaining the situation. The main difference between schools is who they want to write the letter. I forget what Barnard said so have your mom call the school. Good luck!</p>
<p>So sorry about this situation! I had one of my favorite students in the same situation. I know it is hard to tell schools your situation, but remember, you have done nothing wrong.</p>
<p>I know our high school attendance office/assistant principal provided a letter stating that the father had no contact with the school at any time during this girls enrollment. I’m sure your school would do the same. They can look through a cum. folder and see that he has never been listed as a contact or been to a conference.</p>