<p>So I'm wondering how my dad's income will affect my chances for financial aid.
My parents got divorced back in 2002. My mother has recently gone from working part-time to full-time, so this year her income is expected to go up from her usual 40-45k to 60k+. I've crunched the numbers on the financial aid calculator for several universities. Basing the aid off purely my mom's income, I can afford most of the universities I would like to attend. Nearly all of the colleges I wish to attend requires the CSS profile. Once I factor in my dad's income, my cost to attend skyrockets. My dad makes around 70-80k a year. Also since my dad is remarried, I will have to factor in my stepmom's income into the CSS profile. The combination of the 3 incomes total 150k+. Is non-custodial income weighted the same as custodial income? Is 150k in income viewed the same spread out over 2 households verses 1 household? Also, considering my situation, what would be my best bet for affording college?</p>
<p>It will affect your prospects for aid A LOT. How much, depends upon the school and how they use the PROFILE information. Though there are some allowances made for the fact that the income is spread out between two house holds vs 1, it’s still going to be a tough go. </p>
<p>What sort of colleges are you considering and how much do you expect to be able to pay? If the NPRs are coming up way short using the combined, info, you need find some affordable choices like local state schools, and school where you might get sufficient merit money. Those are schools that have those awards and where you are way up there in the test scores.</p>
<p>Also look up through search engines, the list of schools that use PROFILE but still do not use NCP income. Princeton, Vanderbilt, Denison, come to mind. THings change year to year so one does have to check up on this. Also, there are schools that do give good aid that use FAFSA only, though, again that is changing rapidly. </p>
<p>Without some idea as to what sort of schools you are considering and realistically can get accepted, it’s difficult to come up with a list.</p>
<p>Here is some relevant info: <a href=“CSS Profile – CSS Profile | College Board”>CSS Profile – CSS Profile | College Board;
<p>That second to last column tells you if the school uses NCP income.</p>
<p>*Basing the aid off purely my mom’s income, I can afford most of the universities I would like to attend.
*</p>
<p>That would only be true if these were schools that promise to meet need and don’t use NCP info. There are maybe only 1 or 2 schools that only use custodial parent’s info and meet need. </p>
<p>*
Nearly all of the colleges I wish to attend requires the CSS profile. Once I factor in my dad’s income, my cost to attend skyrockets. My dad makes around 70-80k a year. Also since my dad is remarried, I will have to factor in my stepmom’s income into the CSS profile. The combination of the 3 incomes total 150k+. Is non-custodial income weighted the same as custodial income? Is 150k in income viewed the same spread out over 2 households verses 1 household? Also, considering my situation, what would be my best bet for affording college?*</p>
<p>Yes, the fact that two households exist does get taken into consideration. However, your dad’s total household income is considered because his lifestyle is enhanced by his wife’s income (which means that he’s not supporting the household just on his income, so he has more money to pay for college.)</p>
<p>You need to ask each parent how much they will be contributing towards college. The problem is that in your family your dad’s household income will account for about 2/3 of the family contribution and he may not be willing to pay that much. </p>
<p>I doubt that your mom can afford to split the contribution 50/50. It sounds like she may be now working full time because she’s going to be losing child support payments.</p>
<p>If your parents will not likely (or may not likely) pay their fair share, then to you need to protect yourself and apply to schools that only use mom’s info AND promise to meet need (Vandy), and apply to schools that will give you HUGE merit for your stats so that the REMAINING costs are within your mom’s budget. </p>
<p>Apply to two different types of large merit schools. 1) Apply to schools where your stats will give you guaranteed/assured large merit for your stats. 2) Apply to schools where you have a good chance of competitve merit. (you shouldn’t only apply to schools with competitive merit because you might not get much/anything.)</p>
<p>How much has your mom SAID that she’ll pay (don’t guess, ask her.) :)</p>
<p>The requirement for NCP info (and even CSS Profile) can change. Make sure you double check the colleges financial aid information. One school my D2 applied for did not require CSS in May of her junior year of high school, but the next fall it suddenly did.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt does not automatically require Non Custodial information - but may require it later on (google Vanderbilt financial aid noncustodial - they have a form they sometimes require).</p>
<p>A lot of schools have their own Noncustodial forms (and do not use Profile noncustodial forms). Check each of their websites carefully - and it is subject to change!</p>
<p>Does your Dad have stepchildren with his new wife? Are any of them attending college? Those items will factor in your favor.</p>
<p>In my experience (divorced - 2 kids in college - ex is remarried) there is no safe way to predict how FA will calculate your incomes. Apply widely - research the requirements to apply and aim at some solid merit options. Good luck it is very hard to know where you will stand in the FA lottery.</p>
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<p>^^^ This. The [Profile[/url</a>] link provided above is helpful, but not determinative.</p>
<p>If your parents’ combined income is too high for you to be eligible for the financial aid you need, you have two options: (1) apply to FAFSA-only schools, which generally do not ask for NCP info or (2) apply to schools where you would be eligible for merit aid that is awarded without regard to financial need.</p>
<p>See the following schools, for example, that award generous merit aid:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums](<a href=“CSS Profile Home – CSS Profile | College Board”>https://profileonline.collegeboard.org/prf/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet.srv)</a>
<a href=“Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums;
<p>And there are many, many other schools that also award merit aid in various amounts.</p>
<p>“What sort of colleges are you considering and how much do you expect to be able to pay?”</p>
<p>I’m considering Michigan, Duke, Stanford, Northwestern, Uchicago, Notre Dame, WUSTL, Emory, and a few others. </p>
<p>My safety schools are Central Michigan, UofM-Dearborn, and Wayne State University.
I know I can get fairly decent financial aid at all three of these schools. </p>
<p>As for how much I expect to be able to, I would say 10-15k . I will probably contribute 5,000 from work and savings a year. My mom will be able to pay around 5,000 a year (but it might be difficult since my sister may still be in school at the time). I’m not sure how much my dad will be able to contribute. He won’t have to pay anymore child support once I turn 18, so hopefully he will be generous and contribute sum of the money that was going towards child support to my education. I don’t know if he will though, considering he hasn’t given my sister a penny for college; he really doesn’t seem to care too much. I also might get some money from my mother’s boyfriend. He has quite a bit of money and is fairly supportive of my education. He has talked about taking us on tours of colleges around the country this summer. Overall, I would put the ballpark figure around 10-15k, possibly more if my mom can contribute more and if my dad contributes.</p>
<p>Btw, thank you for all the responses. I really appreciate it.</p>
<p>What you need to do is find some schools that you can afford on a worst case scenario. If Dad won’t pay, Mom can’t pay more than, say, the $5K and you can pay your $5K. You can also borrow $5500 that first year. So, with zero financial aid, you can come up with about $15K. If those safety schools of yours can come in under those numbers, you put them right on top of your list. </p>
<p>After that, you can go to town Though UMich does guarantee to meet full need, if they require non custodial information and use it to determine what you have to pay, you are going to have a gap, Unless you find a couple of schools,–check out that list, and then call each school and find out if they ask for supplemental NCP information, that does not require your Dad and Step’s info, you are going to be hard pressed to beat UMich’s cost without getting some merit money. So start looking for those schools that have sizeable awards. No sense fishing where there aren’t. Emory does have the Scholar awards, but some of the others do not have much in the way of merit at all. The awards that Duke and UCH have are very tough to get. So you might want to replace theme with schools where money is more likely to be available. GW, maybe, UPitt, Fordham. But be aware that if a school has a recognizable name, getting the kind of money you need in merit is going to be very difficult. Akin to getting accepted to HPY or more difficult.</p>
<p>*My safety schools are Central Michigan, UofM-Dearborn, and Wayne State University.
I know I can get fairly decent financial aid at all three of these schools. *</p>
<p>??</p>
<p>How do you know that? None of those schools promise to meet need. You can’t just go by EFC and think that the schools are going to give you the rest. It doesn’t work that way.</p>
<p>You need to apply to some schools that will give you large ASSURED merit for your stats. There are schools that are ranked higher than those 3 that will give you merit if your stats are good enough. What are your stats?</p>
<p>Since your dad hasn’t given your sister any money for college, then you really can’t expect him to give you money for college. Ask to be sure. (unfortunately, many NCPs feel that once child support ends they shouldn’t have to pay a cent for college, especially if they’ve remarried.)</p>
<p>You need to ask your mom how much she can pay. I doubt that she can give $10k per year ($5k for you and $5k for your sister). The extra money that she’ll get by working full time will just make up for loss of child support. </p>
<p>Right now, you need to deal with facts, not assumptions. Being too optimistic will cause you to go down paths that will only lead to disappointment and no good choices.</p>
<p>Will your sister be an undergrad when you’re a freshman or will she have graduated by then?</p>
<p>“How do you know that? None of those schools promise to meet need. You can’t just go by EFC and think that the schools are going to give you the rest. It doesn’t work that way.”</p>
<p>Sorry, I met merit aid. I qualify for full-tuition at UofM-Dearborn. Also, Wayne State and Central Michigan are generous with their merit aid. I know of several people who have gotten full tuition or full rides to those schools. </p>
<p>“What are your stats?”</p>
<p>31 on the ACT, I plan to retake it in June or September. (My goal is a 32 or 33)
3.97 UW GPA/ 4.65 W
I’m currently taking AP chemistry and AP English. Next year I will be taking AP Bio, AP Physics, Spanish 5, English 1 and 2 through a community college program in my school, Calc 1, and I’m also planning on taking the AP exams for Macro/Micro Economics and government. </p>
<p>"Will your sister be an undergrad when you’re a freshman or will she have graduated by then? "</p>
<p>She will be finishing up her senior year when I’m a freshman.</p>
<p>So, your EFC will only be lower freshman year. It will increase for years 2, 3, and 4. When you use the Net Price Calculators, also run the numbers without your sister being in school and without her being in the household to get an idea of what schools will expect you to pay for most of your college years (after she graduates). You don’t want to get shocked and lose most/all of your aid after frosh year.</p>
<p>Good that you’ll get full tuition at UMich-Dearborn. Would you be happy attending that school or the other two? With your stats you could get large merit at other schools as well, especially if you bump your score up a bit (which you have to do anyway to have a decent chance at Stanford, WashU, etc…right now a 31 is not competitive.)</p>
<p>What is your career goal?</p>
<p>Again, ask your parents how much they’ll pay so you know where you stand.</p>
<p>“Good that you’ll get full tuition at UMich-Dearborn. Would you be happy attending that school or the other two?”</p>
<p>Well ideally, I would prefer my other choices. Out of my three safety schools Central is my top choice. I view the other two fairly equally. I would prefer to go away to college, but U-mich Dearborn is only 15 minutes away so I wouldn’t live on campus. (And I don’t know if they have their dorms built yet). Wayne State is only 20 minutes away, so I’m not sure if I would live on campus there either. I’m sure I wouldn’t like to have to commute through Detroit everyday though either. </p>
<p>“What is your career goal?”</p>
<p>I’m looking at Economics/Business and possible Engineering; I’m really torn. I find finance and economics to be interesting subjects, and I can picture myself in the business field.
I also am a huge fan of science and mathematics, which is where the engineering desire comes in to play. </p>
<p>There is an endowed scholarship at Umich for graduates of my high school going into engineering. I believe the value of the scholarship is $10,000. I really only have 2 competitors. One sounds like he is more interested in staying at home and not going away for college, so that can be good for me. The other sounds like she is interested more in attending a different local university for engineering. My bestfriend’s siblings all 3 received the scholarship. They all currently go to Umich.Fortunately for me, my friend intends on majoring in something other than engineering. I’m really hoping I can win it as it would help tremendously and place me in a position to easily afford umich.</p>