For a child whose parents are not married, does the income from both parents and any step-parents count towards the expected family contribution?
Depends on the school. For federal aid on the the FAFSA,
they will look at the custodial parent and the stepparent if married,
they will look at the income and assets of married parents, and
they will look at the the income and assets of biological parents who are unmarried, but living together
For schools that give their own institutional aid ; for schools that use the the CSS profile, they will look at the custodial parent and spouse if married. In addition, they will look at the non-custodial parent and spouse (if married). For schools that use their own financial aid forms they may ask for income and assets from both parents and stepparents.
Depends on the school. Broadly, at private schools: yes.
Thank you both
Thank you both
the net price calculator is not a good predictor for divorced/blended parents (too many variables)
Is there some way to get an estimate then, in advance of applying?
Do you have specific schools in mind?
Is it a FAFSA only school or is it a CSS Profile school?
The list is a work in process but will include CUNYs, SUNYs and a bunch of East Coast private school. Most will be a notch or two down from most selective.
There is no one answer. You can look into this for each school as you start to narrow it down. As stated above you probably first look to see if it’s a FAFSA only school or CSS profile school.
Keep in mind that those FAFSA only schools will not likely meet need anyway.
What is the household income of the custodial parent and current spouse? Any assets?
Like another poster said, it varies greatly. D’s packages differed from $20-$35,000, leaving the COA at $25-40K. The most money came from private schools that meet 100% need but they were NOT top 20 schools. Think schools around the 35-50% acceptance rate. FAFSA only schools COA ended up around the $28K mark for a household income of under $60,000, except the state flagship that ended up at 20,000.
In this situation, it is best to pick a handful of schools that you would be happy to attend and apply EA. Make sure you have a financial safety in there as well. At least this way, you’ll have one or two (or more) schools before the January 1st RD deadline and you’ll have some idea of the average award and you can go from there.
If your student is applying for merit aid, keep an eye on the earlier application deadlines…some December 1.
What about divorced parents with joint custody? Do you flip a coin?
the custodial parent is the parent that the child lives with for the extra day. If the child lives equally both parents, spending 1/2 day of that 365th day with each parent, then it is the parent who provided the larger amount of support that is the custodial parent (any monies paid on the child’s behalf or child support must be added on the Financial aid forms).