<p>I really hope you can work this out! </p>
<p>You need evidence that your father is not able to be located. At
This point, for all Harvard knows, he is a multimillionaire who you haven’t seen in four years…and who you have made no attempt to get support from. You need to find out from
HARVARD what supporting documentation you need to give them that shows you have not been able to LOCATE your father…and pursue support from him.</p>
<p>Oh I understand now. The “more information” they are requesting is some proof that he is unable to be located and that some effort has been made to locate him NOT more support corroborating my situation? Thanks so much for your help. When I talked to them they simply said they “didn’t have enough information to make a decision on financial aid”, so we were becoming frustrated as to what more information they were requiring.</p>
<p>Right…and you need to find out from Harvard what they want. They already understand that your dad left, your mom has little money, and you are living with your grandma. THOSE are not reasons to grant a NCP waiver. You need supporting documents (and not from your mom or any other relative) regarding your inability to find your dad. Ask Harvard what type of information you need to provide.</p>
<p>*Oh I understand now. The “more information” they are requesting is some proof that he is unable to be located and that some effort has been made to locate him NOT more support corroborating my situation? Thanks so much for your help. When I talked to them they simply said they “didn’t have enough information to make a decision on financial aid”, so we were becoming frustrated as to what more information they were requiring.
*</p>
<p>Right. </p>
<p>What kind of work did he do when he was married to your mom? Is it likely that he’s not working now? How would he likely be supporting himself?</p>
<p>If he was never regularly employed, then that might explain why his whereabouts would be harder to find. If he had a long-term employment with a company, then maybe he would be findable. </p>
<p>It’s harder for people to disappear these days unless they work under the table. Otherwise, they’d be paying into social security, etc, and there would be some record of where he is.</p>
<p>Is he retirement age? </p>
<p>Are you saying that he just left the house one day and your mom never heard a peep out of him since? Or did he move out, then a divorce proceeding went thru months later? Was he ordered to pay child support, but never paid?</p>
<p>As others have brought up, your father could be a multimillionaire who ditched your mother and you and your mother decided just to let it go. That your mother did not want to be bothered to do this is not sufficient reason for Harvard to let this go. There are child support rules in each state, and that your mother did not want to pursue the issue, looking for your father and getting the court to make him pay, is not Harvard’s problem. It does not work that way, if you want money from some place—they want to see that your mother did due diligence. Otherwise, forget it. It would look pretty stupid if they gave you a full ride and it turned out he was rolling in the dough, wouldn’t it? Got one over on Harvard. Not gonna happen. They want your mother to do what she should have done when he walked out.</p>
<p>Now if he was not making any money ever, was a felon, in jail, beat you guys, and you have police reports and some older tax returns showing that when your parents did file together, he wasn’t making much of anything, if there are official records that can be shown, not just what your mother and grandmother are saying–police reports, tax records, job history, something not from your family but from official outsiders, that will count for something.</p>
<p>Also, how is your mother filing taxes with you as a dependent when she has no idea how your father is filing? He can be claiming you as a dependent too. it often takes a while for that stuff to catch up, you know. Why didn’t your mother go after him for child support as she would have been so entitled under any state law? Why should Harvard pay for your mother not doing due diligence? </p>
<p>On your part, you can look to see if there is any record of abuse and if your father did not make much money, and also if you have medical evidence that your mother is mentally ill and was not able to do any of the things she should have done. You might be eligible to sue for back support for you since your father did not pay any thing he should have for all of those years. These are things that you and your mother are expected to do, not just let it go unless there is good DOCUMENTED BY OUTSIDE AGENCY reasons. Because people lie all of the time to get money, what your mother, you , your grandma or relatives write, is no good. You need official records, and if you don’t have them, you may not get the money.</p>
<p>A good start would be tax returns filed with your mother before he left. Your mother can get those returns if she were on them as joint. If they show little or no income, it would be evidence that your father never had money, and the future ones would show your mother did not ever have money, and to go after him was not a good use of money. That’s what I mean about official proof–you need documents.</p>
<p>There was never a court order to pay child support. Before he left, he was an alcoholic, drinking heavily and verbally abusing my mothe and me. Because he was so unruly when he was around and the relationship was unhealthy my mother decided it would be best to just let him go. I have sound bite recordings of some of their arguments to document the abuse. Would this be helpful?</p>
<p>^ So, are your parents still legally married?</p>
<p>Have you tried facebook.com to find him? What about whowhere.com? </p>
<p>Do you know, or have a likely idea what city he is in? Access public records in that city to see if you can find him. It really is pretty easy to find people, if they don’t change their identities.</p>
<p>It does sound like it is convenient to not find him, but it is a necessity for Harvard (or so it seems). You’ve gotten sound advice on this thread.</p>
<p>Sound bites will do you no good. They may do your mother some good though if she were to go through a divorce, but probably not. </p>
<p>Best of luck to you.</p>