Are any of the three affordable ? If the father is not willing to commit, the school will not care. He’s making a spending decision. He can spend, but doesn’t want to it sounds like. The school won’t budge in that regard.
This is my concern.
It’s not worth stressing financially or strapping a kid financially as they start their life.
These are great schools but let’s be honest if you asked 100 random HR people about Colby, 95 would have never heard of it and of the 5 maybe one could identify the state.
Yes other options may be deemed lesser but the cream typically rises to the top.
Finances make require us to make choices we don’t love each and every day. NMF is a gift.
I’d take advantage of that well b4 I’d put myself or child in a financial bind.
Allowing your child to graduate debt free is a HUGE gift. And if your child goes to a very good institution where you can save large sums of money that can be used for grad school or other expensive life choices, that is an EXTRAORDINARY gift. Run the calculators to see how much the loan payments are going to be, for both you and your son. See how much money will be paid in interest. Think about all the years of repayment, and how they may end up limiting your son’s options (needing to choose highest-paying job even if it’s not the one he’s most interested in, needing to put off getting a house or getting a house in a less desirable area because it’s what he can afford with loan payments, etc). Then take a look at the schools where your son is likely to be able to get a full ride or full tuition and leave him so many extra options in his life.
I think I didn’t fully read all of the info as stated above. However, I will say that we filed an appeal (successful) after a conversation with the FO. While financial aid decisions are based on numbers, they were willing to look again and reconsider (with no changes on income level etc.) It seemed to me that it was more that a person was actually looking rather than just a computer. Of course, I don’t really know for sure.
There are a number of colleges that give significant aid to NMFs with either late or rolling deadlines. However, in many cases the application dates for their NMF-based scholarships have passed. So one would have to check each one closely. Nevertheless, there are still some choices.
I will say that your question (now that I understand it) is something none of us can answer. You are looking for a college which won’t change the financial aid for the subsequent three years, since your own income is not going to change. BUT- you have no idea if your ex-husband’s income is going to change- it could go up a lot, he could get a payout on deferred comp this year which will show up on his non-custodial parent forms which will make it look like you have no need at all. The fact that he is deciding on his own how much to kick in-- without regard to his income (or assets) means that you really can’t control what the entire picture is going to look like in years 2-4.
This is for sure a challenging situation to navigate.
Agree that looking at a couple of the NMF scholarships schools still accepting applications might be a good idea (and do it ASAP). Your son may need to be further from home than he’d like, but graduating debt free is not a bad trade-off. And not having the uncertainty of worrying about his dad’s contribution- priceless.
I’m not sure if it’s been mentioned but the overwhelming majority of universities in America will not raise COA based on the non-custodial parent’s income. That’s because the vast majority of colleges in America do not use the CSS Profile and use only FAFSA to determine Financial Need.
The simplest solution to this problem is to limit the applications to schools that do not use the CSS Profile.
I know this does not necessarily help the OP who is now in a post-application phase. However, there are many schools still accepting applications. It’s never too late to choose to apply to three or four more non-Profile schools.