<p>My daughter's father is self employed and pays only 2,508 / yr in child support, as he claims he makes only 15,000 after business expenses. I have been divorced from him since 1998 and this amount started only 2 yrs after our divorce. He sees her ...possibly 16-20 hours a year. He has never, in my daughter's life attended an academic or sport function. He is now refusing to give his financial information for the Profile. Will the minimal support and next to nothing visitation be enough that we won't get a waiver for his information? (My daughter's grades and scores are good enough that she is at least trying several Ivy League schools as well as some other prestigious universities.)
Also, we have tried to pursue the information from my ex-husband with legal action, but there seems to be no law in place to require him to provide the information.<br>
If anyone has input on this, I would greatly appreciate your viewpoint.</p>
<p>You can have your daughter send him the noncustodial PROFILE with plea for him to send the info to the college financial aid office so that she can possibly get financial aid to go there, and assure him of privacy of the info. You can talk to the fin aid offices and see if they will give this reassurance as well. YOu can also pursue waiver of non custodial parental info and ask each financial aid office for their form, and have it completed. It usually involves a third party like the school counselor, minister, social worker attesting the lack of involvement, presence, “neither hide nor hair seen” type statement. But it also asks about child support and how much he sees the child which you or your DD will have to reprot and it doesn’t look good since he is in her life somewhat.</p>
<p>Have you gotten records of what he makes when you went after child support? DId you ever seek an increase? In my experience when that happens the parent does have to cough up tax returns and financial records to prove what the income is or isn’t. Have you simply been taking his word on what he makes? Does he live like he only makes $15K a year after business expenses?</p>
<p>If he does make a lot more, and schools, particularly PROFILE ones are often very hard on small business owners, some who funnel living expenses and other money through their business , will probably throw out a lot of any depreciation and business expense, increasing his income quite a bit. Not saying this will happen for sure in this case, but it happens a lot. NPCs are not at all accurate for those who own any piece of buiness for that reason. So Iguess what I am saying is that if he makes a lot of money, then your DD is not going to get much if any financial aid,. but just as there are no laws in place to require him to provide colleges with his financial info, there aren’t any in place that require him to pay what colleges will calculate should be his share of the college cost. He doesn’t have t pay a dime unless the divorce decree so states.</p>
<p>Have you been proactive before this in terms of going after child support commensurate with his means? Because you would then have some idea of what he makes. If you live in a state that requires him to continue child support through college, and if he is refusing to provide NCP info, you may have the option to go after him for continued child support and perhaps an increase if he does make a lot more. You may even be able to go after him retroacively. This is something you can discuss with your attorney. If your state ends support after high school grad, then that’s the end of that road.</p>
<p>Hopefully your DD has some schools on her list that do not require NCP info. Check the list of PROFILE schools and the chart that shows which ones require the NCP form. You can google this. </p>
<p>My close friend ran into this situation in a state that ends support after high school grad. So her daughter had to commute to the state school. He sporadically sent her some money, but nothing close to what even commuting to the local state school cost. But he was not required to pay or provide info and he chose not to do much of the first and none of the other. This is a common situation, unfortunately. What is your situation and that of your spouse if you have any, in terms of finances? FAFSA ,at least, does not require her father’s info.</p>
<p>Thank you for taking the time to respond. It was hugely helpful to have another point of view.<br>
Yes, I have tried to pursue more child support, but unfortunately, not much more was granted (he is self-employed and can easily fool the courts regarding how much he earns).<br>
In terms of finances, I was unemployed for half of the year, but generally, I’m in the 40-50k range and have not remarried, so this is the only income.</p>
<p>She may get a nice offer from a public university, which only requires the FAFSA. I think in your daughter’s situation, I’d look at the amount of hassle it will be to do the Profile for the next 4 years compared to just needing the information from you.</p>
<p>It bites to have a parent who just won’t cooperate, but she’s not the only one.</p>
<p>I recommend that you and your daughter first compile a list of true safety schools that meet the following:</p>
<p>A school where she can be admitted (possibly with merit or honors college)
A school what will be financially feasible based solely on your income
A school that she will be happy to attend.</p>
<p>Based on the formation you have given, on face she will not be eligible for a non-custodial waiver. Is there any legal reason that your daughter or ex do not see each other (sole physical and legal custody with no visitation, supervised visitation that has been violated, orders of protection, etc), or it is because neither has expressed the desire to see one another? If there is visitation in your divorce decree (yes, the school will ask to find out why there is no/minimal contact)? If there is visitation in the decree, ex pays support but choses not to see the child, it will be very hard to get a waiver based on someone’s conscious decision not to do something.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that just because your ex submits his information on the non-custodial waiver, it does not obligate him to pay (perhaps this is what your daughter should communicate to him). With that in mind, what happens if your daughter is accepted and dad refuses not to pay? You and your ex are first in line to pay for your D’s education. A parents unwillingness to pay will not net you more need based aid from a school , where the endowments are given through the generosity of other people’s parents. College is a social and moral obligation; in most states it is not a legal obligation -especially above a partial cost of tuition at your local public U. This is not a battle that you want to pursue year over year.</p>
<p>If your D is an Ivy caliber student, she will be a great candidate for merit $$ at a number of schools. I would recommend looking at the stickie at top of the forum and look at schools where your daughter will get some guaranteed scholarships and strong merit money. She should also apply to the Honors college at you flagship state U.</p>
<p>Is your daughter a senior this year? If so, she may have missed some early deadlines for some of the generous merit awards at some schools. Many have an early application deadline for those wishing to be considered for their most generous scholarships. </p>
<p>Hopefully your daughter has some affordable options on her list, or already applied where she might garner merit aid…if she is a senior.</p>