<p>I need to file the CSS Profile. I will be a freshmen next year in college.</p>
<p>My biological parents were never married. My custodial parent is my mother, who is remarried. However, she is my only source of my income; I don't get any income from my step-parent. Therefore, I was wondering how/what steps need to be taken to indicate this on the profile. The profile says to answer questions about your "parent" about your custodial parent AND step-parent (if your custodial parent is remarried), but it's not fair for me to include my step-parent's info if I'm not getting anything from them. Also, I have not gotten to this part yet, but I have heard that with the profile your noncustodial parent has to fill something out. That is not going to be possible in my case, so I was wondering what happens then.</p>
<p>Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>There is NO way to indicate that your stepparent won’t be contributing to your college education on the Profile. Your stepparent is a member of your family and therefore his income and assets are REQUIRED on both the Profile and the FAFSA.</p>
<p>I did read somewhere on here that Wellesley will consider the amount a stepparent will contribute. They don’t totally discount the stepparent contribution but there is some consideration for this by that school. That is the ONLY school where I’ve ever heard that the step parent income/assets receive some sort of variable consideration.</p>
<p>So to answer your question…you MUST list your custodial parent and spouse’s income and assets on your Profile and the FAFSA…no exceptions.</p>
<p>Re: the non-custodial parent Prorile, if this is required you will need a mighty good reason why this cannot be completed. Reasons include…parent in prison, parent totally estranged with no contact with child, whereabouts of parent unknown, etc. The SCHOOL might grant you a non-custodial parent waiver if you can prove there is a VERY good reason why this is not possible. If it’s just that your parent won’t do it…well…that’s not good enough.</p>
<p>There is a place on the Profile where you can include comments, explanations etc. about whatever you want. That would be a good place to comment about your step-parent’s unwillingness to contribute to your college expenses. As Thumper said, that probably won’t get you much, but it’s certainly worth raising the issue early in the unlikely event you are able to negotiate a bit better aid award down the road. You don’t want to end up getting a review of your financial aid award and then at that point suddenly say, “Wait, also my step-dad doesn’t want to pay either!” So do mention it.</p>
<p>As for the non-custodial parent waiver, once you submit your Profile, you’ll need to talk to each college to which you’re applying and ask them how you would request the NCP waiver. They have their own practices that will vary from school to school. Over the years here on CC we’ve seen students who get waivers quite easily from some schools (of course, they have to have a reason that is persuasive to a particular school) and are not able to get them at all from other colleges. It really varies, but is not something you can count on getting, by any means.</p>
<p>Good luck with it all. I hope things work out for you. Remember, they’ll always give you an award according to their usual process first. THEN, you would need appeal for a review of your award in hopes of an adjustment. They won’t just look at your Profile form and say, “Her step-dad won’t contribute and her bio-dad isn’t available, so let’s give her an aid award based only on her mom’s income.” It will be a longer process than that. You’ll have to get the bad aid award first, then appeal it. You may get nothing from the appeal, but if you want to try, just know that that’s how it works.</p>
<p>So it sounds like you’re saying step-parent contribution isn’t greatly considered in the financial need process generally speaking? (Wellesley being the exception)</p>
<p>RE: “you will need a mighty good reason why this cannot be completed” I have absolutely no contact with my father…don’t know where he is, how to contact him, or even if he’s still alive…and I know absolutely no way in which I could go about trying to find him besides private investigator…I mean I think I will have to be granted a waiver…Do you know the process which this entails/how I could go about attaining one…?</p>
<p>Thanks for the help! I think I still qualify for a lot of aid even based on both my mom and step-parent’s combined incomes, but like you’ve said I think it’s still worth noting my particular situation which is out of my hands. This is very personal situation by the way, as you might have guessed, and I really appreciate the advice.</p>
<p>NO…I said the OPPOSITE of that. Stepparent income and assets of your custodial parent are considered on both the FAFSA AND the Profile…no exceptions. There is a rumor that Wellesley does NOT consider stepparent income the same way. ALL other schools I know of DO use the stepparent income in computing need based aid…The FAFSA computation certainly DOES. Ditto the Profile…your custodial parent’s spouse income and assets MUST be listed on the Profile AND the FAFSA.</p>
<p>Now…regarding the NCP waiver…if you can get someone to verify that your father is totally out of the picture you have a chance of getting a waiver for his form. You will need verification from someone…typically a school counselor or a clergyman…someone who would be able to verify and write a letter that indicates your longterm absence of contact with your non-custodial parent. Call the schools and ask EACH school what you need to do.</p>
<p>I actually had another question I think I’ll take the liberty of posting here: I have actually been accepted into MIT EA, but I’m going to need a lot of aid if I’m going to end up going there. I have also applied to private outside scholarships. I know that these types of scholarships decreased your need for aid for MIT, but if the scholarship is only a one-time thing does it reduce your need for all 4 years? or could you get a higher package say your sophomore year–like the amount you would have gotten freshmen year had you not had scholarships?</p>
<p>You will reapply for need based aid each year you are at MIT (or any other school). Your need will be based on what you put on your FAFSA/Profile forms for those years. What you get your freshman year is for that ONE year only. Assuming your financial situation remains the same, your aid should as well. </p>
<p>When you get outside scholarships, they must be reported to the school. This reduces your financial need and therefore reduces your need based aid. If, in subsequent years, you have more need, a school like MIT should meet your need as they meet full need for all students, I believe (there is a student contribution, however, and you will be asked to fulfill that. If you are a low income student, you will likely receive a work study award to help you with your student contribution. Otherwise, you will be expected to work to fulfill this).</p>