<p>My parents divorced in Florida back in 2009. In there divorce decree they did not address the issue of paying of how or if they would pay for college. My father has since moved to Illinois and my mother (and me) to California. In a few months, both my parents will be going back to court where the jurisdiction for child support will be moved to Illinois (where my father lives).</p>
<p>My father currently refuses to fill out the financial aid forms (claims that he doesn't feel that his information will be kept safe/confidential). However, there is a law in Illinois which states that divorced parents will/can be expected/forced to help pay for the child schooling.</p>
<p>Would I be able to use this law to my advantage to either force my dad to help pay for school, or at least scare him into filling out the paper work for aid?</p>
<p>If you live with your mother and apply to a FAFSA only college/uni it will not require your father to fill out the FAFSA. Only colleges that use the Collegeboard profile ask for the non-custodial parent financial information, but not every single college/uni that uses Profile requires this, there are a few that do not. You’ll have to research the colleges you are interested in. The court decision that governs whether or not your father needs to contribute support for your college costs is unrelated to the completion of the FAFSA, although the money that you receive would be reportable by you (or your mom depending how the money is distributed.) In my personal opinion if it is going to take your mother going back to court with your father to attempt to get college money you, alone, probably cannot force or scare him unless he decides it might be cheaper to give you money than go to court but again that is just my opinion. What kind of relationship do you have with him? Does he have an idea of where you are thinking about attending college? Do you have an idea of where you might attend college?</p>
<p>I don’t have a very good relationship with him. He made/has made the divorce and life since then difficult but I won’t get into that here. The colleges I am planning on applying to out of state (NYU, Boston U possibly some Ivies) I do believe all require information from the non-custodial parent. My father knows the kind of colleges I am thinking for applying to/attending, but he doesn’t really see the point of a college education (he joined the military right out of high school, but for all the wrong reasons).</p>
<p>My mom wouldn’t be going back to court only to get money for my schooling (they are also dealing with issues about the house they had in Florida and making other changes to child support), however, I do have 3 other siblings that will soon (in the next 5 years or so) be going to college and I guess I just feel that it is better to get this issue out of the way now so that it won’t be a</p>
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<p>That sounds odd to me. Jurisdiction ordinarily follows the child - not the parent. In other words, if you’re living in California with your mother, then California would have jurisdiction.</p>
<p>I hope that I’m mistaken and that you can use the illinois law to your advantage. Or perhaps, alternatively, you can just convince him that it’s the right thing to do.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>If a court order helps then great, but have a back up plan in case it doesn’t. AND, keep in mind that even if the court agrees with you, the court may likely conclude that he only has to help with the cost of a local instate public (that is often the guideline). Rarely will a court say that a NCP has to pay for a private university…even if he has a good income. </p>
<p>So, protect yourself and have some affordable schools that will give you either lots of aid without your dad’s info (like maybe Vandy) or lots of merit scholarship money (financial safeties).</p>
<p>Yeah, I though that was weird too. But my mom’s lawyer said that the jurisdiction for child support will be moved to Illinois, and that the jurisdiction for custody will be moved to California.</p>
<p>With that said, I should be able to use the Illinois law to my advantage right? even though my parents got divorced in Florida?</p>
<p>It may be up to an Illinois court to decide whether it has the proper jurisdiction to make a ruling/adjustment. An Ill court may say that it isn’t the court to do so. So, be prepared for that.</p>
<p>It sounds like your mom’s lawyer is a Calif lawyer. If so, he may not be sure what an Ill court will determine about jurisdiction. </p>
<p>UC schools will only use your mom’s info. And, again, apply to a few other schools that will just use your mom’s income and either give great aid or give great merit.</p>
<p>That’s absolutely bizarre!</p>
<p>But, sorry, don’t know the answer to your question.</p>
<p>Some interesting insight on the Illinois law here:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.illinoisdivorce.com/family_law_articles/child_support_and_college.php[/url]”>www.illinoisdivorce.com/family_law_articles/child_support_and_college.php</a></p>
<p>It’s up to the judge to decide what’s fair, with little statutory guidance; judges tend to favor in-state public costs when making decisions; and a student can sue on his or her own behalf.</p>
<p>My mom’s lawyer is a Florida lawyer, but that’s irrelevant.</p>
<p>I think I am going to try finding some one up in Illinois that might know more on the subject and be able to give an answer.</p>
<p>@annasdad so does that mean that, if I did decide to go the legal route, that I wouldn’t need a lawyer.</p>
<p>I really don’t want to have to “force” money for college out of my father, however, I do kind of feel like I deserve it considering.</p>
<p>Please keep in mind, too, the any college is not a party to financial arrangements, court-ordered or otherwise, between a student’s parents. The college’s bill is due when it is due. You cannot hand them a court order, say “my dad has to pay x,” and have them say ok they’ll wait until he does, go ahead and register for next semester. If the relationship is a contentious one, your mom may find herself back in court trying to collect. So, be sure there is a plan B in place in case your dad doesn’t pay any court ordered support in a timely fashion.</p>
<p>@ordinarylives </p>
<p>Thank you, I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Very true.</p>
<p>And as Annasdad has stated, an Illinois court (if it has proper jurisdiction) may decide that “college costs” are limited to instate public rates, so at most your dad may only be ordered to pay up to half of an Illinois school (don’t know if they would mean just tuition or the entire COA).</p>
<p>So, even if your dad is ordered to only pay - say $10k per year, your private schools will not honor that. They may feel that your dad can afford to pay $20k+ per year. They won’t care that a court says that he only has to pay $10k. </p>
<p>Since you say that you don’t want to “force” money out of your father, then maybe you should avoid schools that require NCP info…apply to the UC state schools, USC, Vandy and some schools that will give large merit for your stats. Maybe some here can mention other “full need” schools that don’t require NCP info (there are very few of them). </p>
<p>What are your stats? What is your intended major?</p>
<p>As for Bright Futures, look at the Bright Futures website. My guess is that you won’t qualify since you won’t have graduated from a Florida school and you’re no longer a resident of FL.</p>
<p>[Florida</a> Student Scholarship and Grant Programs](<a href=“Home - Florida Student Scholarship & Grant Programs”>Home - Florida Student Scholarship & Grant Programs)</p>
<p>in the above website, I very briefly looked at it and it appears that you have to graduate from a FL school, but maybe I missed something.</p>
<p>No, you would need a lawyer. What it means is that the suit could be in your name; your mom would not need to be a party to it. </p>
<p>Assuming, of course, that the Illinois courts would take jurisdiction.</p>
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<p>Keep in mind that however you feel about your dad’s obligation, it’s not your expectations that are controlling things here - it’s about what the colleges expect. And, for those schools that require information from a noncustodial parent (NCP), your father’s refusal to submit data will prevent you from getting financial aid at that school. And his refusal to pay what the school decides he can afford will prevent you from attending that school.</p>
<p>So, what you or I or anyone else thinks he should do doesn’t matter . . . it’s what the colleges think that’s going to make the difference. So don’t feel guilty about putting him in this position - it’s not really your choice.</p>
<p>The only thing you can do is look for schools that don’t require your dad’s info (as has already been suggested) . . . and you should probably do that just so that you have a backup plan.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the responses.</p>
<p>I do have a few UCs (UCLA!) that I will apply to as financial safeties. I am just trying to get a realistic idea of how I could pay for college out of state. I plan on applying to some schools like NYU and Brown, and I know that the cost to attend either would be steep.
I know that my neither of my parents would be able to pay the cost of tuition, so I am trying to get an idea for how much a need to get in scholarship.</p>
<p>Just posted this in another thread. You can probably use it also:</p>
<p>Here’s the [**list](<a href=“https://profileonline.collegeboard.com/prf/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet.srv][b]list[/url][/b”>https://profileonline.collegeboard.com/prf/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet.srv)[/b</a>] of colleges that required NCP (non-custodial parent) financial profiles for this past application year. Assuming the list doesn’t change significantly, all you need to do is focus on the schools that are not on this list.</p>
<p>Neither FL nor CA force divorced parents to pay college expenses, but in IL that can be left up to the judge. Surely that’s why your Mom’s lawyer wants the child support in IL and custody in CA, because normal practice would be to keep both in the state where the children and custodial parent live. The marital settlement agreement in FL may play a role, too. I hope your Dad also has a good lawyer; I think we are hearing only one side of the issue now.</p>
<p>Even if this strategy works for your Mom, be sure that you actually get the money for college. Child support is a lump sum per month, and you have younger siblings.</p>
<p>My advice would be to focus on schools that don’t require your Dad’s information. This is not likely to work out with a clean solution.</p>
<p>Your Dad’s reluctance to disclose financial information to your Mom says a lot. Yes, it keeps you from getting financial aid at some schools, but you don’t have a good relationship with him and possibly such disclosures have been used against him in the past.</p>