We’re in the early days of researching colleges, but I’m struggling to understand under what conditions colleges accept non-custodial parent waivers. While the father was paying court-ordered child support (deducted from check) he has stopped making all payments. He has not seen or spoken to either child in 9 years except four or five years ago for one lunch.
I had assumed this given the lack of contact and support, we would qualify for a waiver. However, I’ve since read that if he ever had ANY contact or provided any support, schools may not grant this.
I do not know where he is or if he’s even working. He has had legal and tax issues and likely doesn’t make enough to impact aid. If we cannot locate him or if he’s unwilling to complete the form, can schools impute/estimate income?
You can only request waivers and see what the schools do. Be sure to have a couple options that are affordable and likely admits that don’t require NCP info.
You will need to contact EACH college to request a waiver. Find out what each school requires to be submitted to get a waiver. Get this done early in the application process.
You might get waivers at some schools and not at others.
Also ask if you will be required to submit for waivers in subsequent years. At some colleges, you will need to do this annually.
Thanks for the info. Would love to get a sense of our chances on this, but I guess like so much else, we’ll have to wait and see. I don’t think we’re even going to tour any out-of-state schools until/unless she’s accepted AND we can afford it.
If they accept your waiver request, consider touring if the Calculator looks favorable. Ask the colleges how early you can apply for waivers. It is hard and stressful to tour all in April of senior year.
@intparent the net price calculators have the potential to be inaccurate for single parents UNLESS the NPC specifically asks if there is only one parent (divorced, widow, never married).
This student is from Florida…and has Bright Futures and the potential for at least free tuition at the Florida public colleges.
Also, the student had fine stats…so far. I would suggest she look at University of South Carolina, and University of Alabama. College of Charleston might also be a good option. The two SC schools don’t have guaranteed merit aid, but they do have good merit options!
This student could also apply to University of Pittsburgh…I believe there are rolling admissions, and the earlier one applies, the more likely to get their merit aid.
Also, remember, even at large schools, the students don’t actually get to know over 20,000 students! And if there is an honors college, this can make the schools seem smaller.
Well, right, but I said to do if AFTER she has the waivers. If the waiver is granted, then I assume the NPC would be accurate when just that parent’s info is entered.
The FAFSA only schools will not be concerned with the NCP.
Some students aren’t able to consider CSS schools because a NCP refuses to fill out the forms or has a new spouse who makes too much money. Some students can’t consider OOS publics or private schools that don’t meet full need. Financial aid awarding is not a perfect system and as applied to one family might be totally unfair, but that’s the system we have to work with.
You can try for a waiver, but have lots of backup schools that use just the FAFSA. It’s a lot of work to get the waivers, to file all the paperwork, to create a history of child support payments or contact. It might be worth it to you and your daughter to go to a certain school, but it is a lot of paperwork.
The net price calculator for a school is NOT going to change for a student because that student gets a NCP waiver.
In many cases, the NPC assumes two married parents…not a single parent. Parents here will tell you…there are things that are not advantageous in the financial aid process for single parents…starting with the asset protection allowance.
The NPC for a single parent family should be viewed as an estimate UNLESS the NPC specifically asks if the parents are married…or not.
Some of the schools mentioned do NOT use NCP info ever. So those Net Price Calculators will be accurate. You won’t be asking/getting waivers from schools that do not use NCP info.
For instance, Thumper mentioned Alabama and SoCar…the NPC will be right, because those schools only use custodial parent info. I believe Alabama includes a section that asks for stats, which would tell you what merit your child would get.
As for the schools that do use NCP info…the Net Price Calculators for those schools only represent one household. So they would be accurate for YOUR info. So, for THOSE schools, you could assume you’d get a waiver, run the NPC and you’d have your answers.
Well then, no need to worry. She’ll have options!!! She can go to a FL public for free as a NMF. She can go to Bama for nearly free. There are other schools as well.
Some colleges’ NPCs do ask if the parents are divorced, and provide spaces to fill in NCP income and assets if they are. However, if the NCP is uncooperative, then there is no way for the OP to get that NCP income and asset information, and a college that requires NCP information and does not grant a waiver will not give financial aid in this case.
It would be a LOT easier to find the list of schools using the Profile. There are 3000 or so colleges in this country, and IIRC, about 400 use the Profile.
UVA, University of Michigan, University of Virginia and Georgia Tech are the only public universities I can think of that use the Profile in addition to the FAFSA. The rest of the public universities are FAFSA only.
Scroll down in this link and it gives a list for the current academic year. You do need to check any college website of interest because sometimes this outside info is not accurate or up to date.
However, while the set of FAFSA-only schools is a very large subset of the complement of the set of CSS Profile schools, it is not the same, since some schools that do not use CSS Profile have their own supplemental forms (some of which require NCP information). In addition, the CSS Profile list linked above may be out of date or have some incorrect information.
Check on the college’s web site to be sure of what financial aid forms it needs.
I am so glad that we have Florida options (we hope/think!), but her goal has always been to go out of state - partially because of the weather and partially because she’s bought into the idea that an Ivy or top 20 school is the path to success.
While I don’t necessarily agree with this perspective, I do want to educate myself enough to help steer her in the right direction - so thank you for the list and the info. I’m curious as to whether families who do not receive mandated support are typically granted waivers. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. (As a mom, it’s hard to explain to her that she may not be able to attend a school because of a father she has seen once in ten years - sad on many fronts. I get the rationale, but it may be a bitter pill for a 16 year old.)
Anyway, I don’t want to totally discourage her from trying for a OOS/top school, but I do want her to be realistic - not only about her chances of admission but also for a reasonable financial package. Now we know to factor this into the equation…
And in terms of career, she’s not really sure what she wants to do. While she’s mentioned medical research and pre-med, she truly doesn’t know yet (and it’s driving her crazy btw). I would love her to attend a school that can help her find her path - she really hasn’t had the opportunity to explore much.
I think a large public university with a strong honors college might be a great match - Alabama is definitely an option if they continue their NMF aid package - SC seems.more of a financial reach. Surprisingly (at least to me), I really like what I’ve read about UCF’s honor’s college.
Thanks again for all the great info. So many factors to consider. I think as long as she’s with bright, motivated kids who care about school, she’ll be fine.