<p>Due to lack of money and limited income after a divorce I want to help my daughter look for colleges that will give her more in grants . Where is a good place to start looking for colleges that give a lot of need based aid? Thanks.</p>
<p>Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Duke.</p>
<p>How about some schools a couple notches down academically, the reason I am posting today is she got her ACT score back and got a 27 . Is there a good place to research this info. Also does anyone know of schools that give full rides for need based aid like how my son will probably get it thru North Carolina (Covenant) where he is at .</p>
<p>Depending on your situation, you may want to avoid schools that will require both parents income/assets info.</p>
<p>Since you’ve gone thru a divorce, what does that mean? does that mean that you have a good income, but won’t likely be able to afford what a college will expect you to pay? If so, then your problem isn’t that you need a school that gives good FA…because you wouldn’t qualify based on income.</p>
<p>you have to QUALIFY for need-based aid based on income and assets. You won’t be given more aid just because you say that your divorce cost you a lot of money. </p>
<p>AND, most schools do NOT have much aid to give. </p>
<p>So…we need more info.</p>
<p>Does your child live with you?</p>
<p>If your child lives with your ex, does your ex have a good income? If your ex has remarried, then that income counts, too.</p>
<p>What are your child’s stats? GPA? and test scores?</p>
<p>What state are you in?</p>
<p>Cross posted above with your earlier post…</p>
<p>*How about some schools a couple notches down academically, the reason I am posting today is she got her ACT score back and got a 27 .</p>
<p>Is there a good place to research this info. </p>
<p>Also does anyone know of schools that give full rides for need based aid like how my son will probably get it thru North Carolina (Covenant) where he is at . *</p>
<p>An ACT 27 may be too low for many/most schools that give great aid. </p>
<p>Is your D instate for N.C? If so, what about those schools?</p>
<p>What was your son’s EFC? Does your son live with you or your ex?</p>
<p>How much can you afford to contribute? How much will your ex contribute?</p>
<p>ACT 27 is tough to get a good school with full ride or decent Financial Aid, unless your kid is an URM. I think you need to avoid state school in general, especially those states that are in deep debt. Depending the state you are at, try you state school, which is cheaper in comparison.</p>
<p>If the non-custodial parent isn’t willing to contribute any longer to your college expenses then you NEED to focus on schools that give good need based aid AND only require a FAFSA (not the CSS/PROFILE). Most selective private colleges will ask for a CSS application, which requires information from the non-custodial parent and factors that into the assessment of student need, regardless of the NCP’s willingness to pay. The only way to get around this is to get a waiver, but those are difficult to get and only issued at the discretion of the school. Usually they only give them out in the case of things like child abandonment, where the child has no way of contacting the NCP to get financial information. </p>
<p>Most public universities only ask for the FAFSA, and you may be able to find private universities that will do the same. FAFSA only asks for financial information of the custodial parent and uses just that to determine need. a school that meets full need and is FAFSA only might be kind of a unicorn in college admissions, but you could probably find some FAFSA only’s that are not that expensive. She will need to take out some loans though, it’s an inevitable part of the calculation. </p>
<p>If the non-custodial parent is still willing to contribute to your kids’ education, then you don’t have to worry as much, depending on how much they’re willing/able to contribute and how much need you get assessed for. What colleges say you need and what parents are willing to contribute don’t always match up.</p>
<p>Wow thanks for the answers so far.Here is the situation, I am the one filling out FAFSA for 2 reasons, 1,I have always done it in the past and 2, I make less than my ex ($30000). My sons EFC was 0 . We live in Illinois but she is not fond of our state schools here. I was just wondering if other schools have that program that North Carolina offers for students with low incomes but can still qualify even if you are from out of state.Her GPA is fantasic in a very highly respected school district in northwest suburbs of Chicago.She is in National and Spanish Honor Society and was captain of her track team until she quit because coach told her she should be at track practice instead of ACT Prep class she was taking.</p>
<p>Smithie and Proud, I just filled out CSS profile and put down info for my ex so do they contact her then? She makes just a lillte more tham me and when it was all said and done after last year my son at North Carolina had to only take out a couple grand in private student loans.</p>
<p>You might also have your D take the SAT. Some students score significantly higher on one test than the other. </p>
<p>Our public library has a book (I don’t remember the title, but I think its by Princeton Review) that explains the differences between ACT and SAT and includes a quiz students can take to predict which test they might do best. </p>
<p>Do you qualify for free/reduced price lunch? If so be sure to take advantage of fee waivers for testing and college applications.</p>
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<p>The FAFSA is suppose to be completed by the custodial parent, not necessarily the one who makes the least amount of $$. If you are not the custodial parent, then her mom should be filing the FAFSA.</p>
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<p>If you are looking at schools that use the CSS profile, then your ex should be filing the non-custodial profile. Her financial information should not be on your copy of the profile, especially since the 2 of you are no longer married. When she files the non-custodial profile, you will not have access to her information and she will not have access to your information.</p>
<p>If you are the custodial parent and you want to find schools where the non-custodial parent’s income won’t be considered, either look at: 1) FAFSA-only schools, or 2) PROFILE-using schools that don’t require the non-custodial PROFILE form. </p>
<p>To find schools in the second category, you could look at the list of all PROFILE-using schools here: <a href=“https://profileonline.collegeboard.com/prf/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet.srv[/url]”>https://profileonline.collegeboard.com/prf/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet.srv</a>. Look in the second column from the right and you’ll see if a school does or doesn’t require the non-custodial form. Here are a few examples of schools with good financial aid that don’t require the non-custodial form: Colby, Gettysburg, Illinois Wesleyan, Ithaca, Lewis & Clark, St. Lawrence, University of Puget Sound. And lots more.</p>
<p>If your income is around $30,000 and your ex-spouse’s is similar, then you might be okay even with schools that use the CSS PROFILE if the school meets full need. However, if your ex-spouse is remarried and that person has income, that could come into the picture.</p>
<p>The only out of state publics that “meet need” for students are UNC and UVA. Both of those schools are very hard to get into out of state.</p>
<p>Most publics do NOT have the money to be helping out of state schools with their college costs. OOS schools charge OOS tuition for a reason. It wouldn’t make a lot of sense to just cover it with need-based aid. </p>
<p>Unless your D can get her test scores up, she may only be able to afford to go to an instate school…and perhaps only to one that she has to commute to. Most schools do not give you the aid you need to cover tuition, room, board, and books. </p>
<p>I know that your D has a high GPA, but nowadays, many, many kids have high GPAs…so test scores are used to further determine who are the strongest students. </p>
<p>Your D may consider applying to some privates that are known to give good aid…like DePauw. </p>
<p>My concern is that many schools are going to gap you. At many schools, all your D will get is a Pell grant of about $5500 (which congress may reduce) and a $5500 loan.</p>
<p>Your D needs to test again, and take the SAT. She needs to get her scores up.</p>
<p>BTW…the custodial parent is the one who is supposed to do FAFSA. Who does your D live with most of the time?</p>
<p>Thanks to all of you. Great advice . My question is do most schools that require CSS profile usually give out the most need based aid since they want all that extra info that FAFSA doesn’t ask for?</p>
<p>Yeah, just what sybbie said, your ex needs to file the paperwork for the non-custodial parent.</p>
<p>I confused all of you , I filled out FAFSA for my son who is away at school and maybe won’t even come home for summer and work at school. As far as my daughter we just got divorced and she is a junior so I won’t be doing FAFSA until next year for her and she will be living mostly with my ex but I will be paying child support so does that make me custodial for her next year? As far as my son does it really matter who is custodial parent since he isn’t really living at home anyways and if he does it is only 3 months?</p>
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<p>In your daughter’s case, her mom is the custodial parent. Yes, mom must list child support received as income (even though she is not required to claim it on her taxes).</p>
<p>In your son’s case, if he lives more with your ex than he does with you (when he does come home), than she is the custodial parent. If he lives an equal amount amount with both of you, then the fafsa is filed by the parent who provides the most support.</p>
<p>Most of the private colleges that i know of that commit to meeting 100% of financial need require the CSS Profile. That’s not to say there arent’ some that give good financial aid that don’t require it, but of the ones that make a committment to meet all of a student’s need (through a mix of loans, grants, or work study) those that I know of require the CSS.</p>