My mother told me not to put my fathers info on the common app because he will not be helping me pay for college. Long story short my college guidance counselor told me it was not good to lie about stuff like that but it was my choice to do what my mother told me or not. I did put my fathers info on including his phone number and stuff. On the CSS Profile my mother said she was separated from my dad since I was born (which is not true but she did because he’s not going to help pay) and basically said we only know his name. Is this going to hinder me from getting financial aid for the schools, or do colleges look at the financial aid and common app separately ? I know my parents file taxes separately so does that play a factor ?
Getting financial aid by lying is considered fraud.
Be honest or you could lose your admissions offers as well as need based aid.
Colleges frown in dishonesty.
Just because your father is not going to pay doesn’t mean that his income is not considered by the universities.
Your problem is that you chose to lie, and your guidance counselor was absolutely correct in informing you that the colleges don’t take that lightly.
When you submit the applications, you sign that everything is absolutely true and correct. If you choose to “omit” information, it gives the schools a reason to deny, not only financial aid, but also admission. Once you are caught lying, they don’t want to admit you.
The colleges know that lots of non-custodial parents won’t pay. They still require the information.
Since you have acknowledged that you know the name of your biological father, he will be considered responsible too. If you want to avoid that, you have to have a responsible official person write a letter to each college (or one letter but copies to each). The schools will want that letter to attest to your claim that your biological father has not been involved in your life in any way at all-from birth pretty much. When I say official, I mean a clergy person or principal of the school or such. That person is laying their word on the line. If you are not telling the truth, that would be a horrible thing to ask of an official. And, as the previous person said, you can end up in grave trouble.
It isn’t really your choice to do what your mothers says or not. If you fabricate things on your application and aid application and receive money fraudulently then that’s on you and you will suffer the consequences. So it has to be on you to be correct.
These things don’t have anything to do with each other necessarily. Some colleges look at both together and some offices separate the financial aid office. But it does seem obvious lying if she is saying she doesn’t know how to contact him when another paper in your folder has his number. For the Common App it is correct to list your father’s info. That doesn’t have anything to do with aid.
For CSS it doesn’t matter if she left his info off if they require it (and not all schools that ask for CSS Profile ask for the non custodial parent info.) Your aid application won’t be complete until a) you provide it OR b) you are given a waiver. You won’t get a waiver unless you fill out a waiver application. If you take money under false pretenses you can be dismissed from school. your and your parent can be prosecuted and you would have to repay the funds. This happens to people from time to time.
When parents are divorced or separated and file separately, then they each fill out their own part of the CSS Profile. You mom fills the Custodial Parent, your Dad fills the NCP part. The school determines what you have to pay. They don’t care if he wants to contribute or not, unfortunately.They won’t have a way to know if that is true or you just say so for more aid. Contributing or not has nothing to do with the requirement for providing the info. Unless you have grounds for a waiver.