Hi, everyone! So for the Common App, there’s a section where you list your family and household. However, my parents are separated so I only live with my mom. I listed her as parent 1, but there’s also a section for parent 2. But if my dad is my non-custodial parent, do I still have to list him or can I leave that field blank? And I do not receive any type of child support from him. Also, does the family tab indicate financial aid? Because for the family portion of the application, I only have to fill out general information on my family but no specific information regarding financial assets. Is this determined later in the common application process, or do colleges that accept me require this after I submit the common app? Thanks for your help!
You need to list both. For financial aid info, the college website should tell you what forms are due and when. Some just require FAFSA (so probably just will ask for info from parent you live with). Others want the CSS Profile, and they ask for a lot more info. Almost all of those CSS schools will require info from your non-custodial parent, too, unless they give you a waiver. But you need to look at the websites, because each school has their own rules and deadlines. Many have deadlines for financial info before admissions results are out so you can get your aid package quickly, so you can decide if you can afford to attend or not.