My D is a Junior and just went through the admission processes for Summer Programs, Joyce Ivy Scholar and Questbridge College Prep Scholar.
Her father and I are divorced and he lives out of country. We have no child support agreement but she does have contact with him. She has not seen him for over 2 years though.
The application processes we have gone through so far have resulted in her being accepted/awarded aid and admission. Our Income bracket is in the 30s, so is considered quite low (I have no idea what exhusband makes though).
Her father refused to fill out any financial info or give any to her to fill out. The applications didn’t demand any extraordinary details about this.
I am wondering about college applications and aid next year though when we begin. The FAFSA will be easy with just my income but financial aid at schools might be tricky.
She doesn’t really fall into the no contact or doesn’t know where he lives but he also lives out of country so we are in a difficult spot for reporting his finances.
Any advice or suggestions?
Has she asked her dad if he will complete the non-custodial Parent Profile?
The difficult spot isn’t that he lives out of the country; the difficult spot is that he is refusing to cooperate. He could be living down the street and it would be the same issue. If NCP financial information is required, it’s doubtful that your daughter could get a NCP waiver based on the information you have provided, but you never know until you ask. That being said, the best advice I can give is that your daughter can try to explain the consequences if he continues to refuse, unless this would put their relationship in jeopardy or you are already certain this would be futile.
@thumper1
Yes she has. She asked him to provide his finances for the questbridge application this spring and he refused.
She then asked what about when she applies for aid next year, will he create his profile and do the NCP section himself? He said no he wouldn’t be doing that either.
She could focus only on FAFSA schools, and there are a lot of them that give good merit aid and good need based aid too.
For CSS schools, she’d have to either have him fill out the forms or ask for a waiver. Waivers are pretty hard to come by at some schools and you may not know until well into the process.
If she does have contact with him, she could explain that filling out the forms does not obligate him to pay anything for college but just allows her to receive FA. You (and she) cannot see his financial information, and he is just helping her qualify for FA.
There are a few top schools that do not require NCP’s information. Vandy is one, and I think U of Chicago.
If he refuses to fill out any financial info forms for college aid, some schools will not give your daughter aid other than federal money. You might want to research which schools do not need noncustodial parent information. Also, I suggest you start getting familiar with the forms you may want to complete asking for a waiver of the NCP financial info.
Because of this situation, your DD should focus on schools that could be affordable without his information or contribution. Bear in mind, even if he did give the info, it may be such that she would not Be eligible anyways.
As always, she should have financial AND admissions safety schools, with some colleges having both safety features.
University of Chicago does not require the Profile at all. It uses the FAFSA and a short Chicago from. No non-custodial parent info is required…and the school is also test optional.
Vandy doesn’t ask for non-custodial info initially but reserves the right to request at a later time.
As noted, there are plenty of colleges that use only the FAFSA…and that never uses the non-custodial parent information.
What colleges is this student considering?
Is it because he thinks you or your D will be able to see it? I bet someone out here could help you find a link to send him that shows otherwise (you can’t). It also puts him under no legal obligation to pay anything - but could help get the schools to give money to her. No info, no need based aid.
Now… if he is high income, but won’t pay, then maybe it is no help even if he does it. Schools asking for the info will expect him to pay, and will gap you by that amount in their aid.
If she is high stats, she might look at UChicago (still a reach for everyone). But I think they recently stopped asking for NCP info. I expect others can list more schools that meet need and don’t require NCP. (Is Vanderbilt one?). And you’ll want big merit schools on the list, too.
Thank you everyone. I didn’t realize there were options for needs-based awards without the NCP info. I will look into those suggestions.
We ran the numbers for our in-state public University and it was out of our league, which was disheartening.
She does have alternatives and the end goal is a worthwhile degree. I have run numbers to know she can coordinate a community college AAS degree (that will transfer to the local U) the first 2 years and then on to a local 4 year with minimal debt as a solid back up plan.
I will ask her to forward the info that shows his NCP parent profile will only be seen by the college and not anyone else.
Is it possible that her father may agree to pay enough of the cost for her to go to the state university? My close friend’s ex refused to fill out any forms too. Not that it would have made much difference, if any, as his compensation was large. He did, however, agree to pay a certain amount towards college tuition. Though the daughter was not able to go to any private schools or go away for college, both she and her brother managed to get their degrees without much debt.
There is some hard feelings on both sides between them and financial support for college wouldn’t be an option at this stage. I think the hard feelings between them is why he is refusing to fill out the profile.
I don’t know his finances anymore but I am assuming they are lower (around the same as when we were married) and she would qualify for maximum aid, even with him providing his finances. Of course, I could be wrong on this. It looks like her best bet is to ask for the info but not expect him to provide anything.
She doesn’t ask him for the info, she provides the link for him to fill it in. It’s hard on both sides, but sometimes a kid just explaining to her parent “Look, all I’m asking you to do is fill out the form. You don’t have to pay, you don’t have to let me see your financial information, but I can’t go to Yale unless you fill out the form. Please do that for me.”
I wouldn’t count on him filling it out. He might do it one year, and then refuse after that. After all, if he filled it out and you got no/little aid, then you could “reverse engineer” and estimate his income/assets. That’s what some NCP folks are concerned about.
Anyway…if your child has strong stats, then apply to schools that give lots of aid w/o NCP info AND apply to schools that will give HUGE merit for her stats.
What are her stats? What is her major and career goal? What is your home state? Do you know approx what your FAFSA EFC is?
As mentioned, Vandy and UChi don’t use NCP info. My cousin’s daughter will be going to Vandy in the fall. She applied there for similar reasons…and NCP that wouldn’t provide info.
Thank you for all the additional suggestions.
Her stats are pretty good but not high like I’ve seen on here so national merit awards would be a big reach for her.
ACT - 30 (retaking this)
PSAT - 1290
Taking her SAT subjects this Saturday
Wants a degree in computer science (programming)
State - ND
Our EFC is - $0
Our location helps for some state scholarships , she ranks very high compared to others in our state, in the top 3%.
NDSU and the U of ND are too high for us OOP, even with a state grant she qualifies for on top of the Pell. Unless she were to be invited to apply for and receive a US Presidential Scholarship award for ND.
Look for local schools to which she can commute. Look for schools where she is in upper quarter of applicants and run the NPCs for them. You want schools that are likely to pay most of the cost.
One of my kids didn’t have great stats but still snagged some close to full tuition deals. One a local school where he’d have paid commuting expenses, books,?etc, that he could have covered with part time work, summer job and Direct loans easily. We would have covered Living expenses at home or at the school.
Nether of those schools used PROFILE either. They had merit money for good local students.
@cptofthehouse -
In ND there might be nothing in commuting distance - even with the expanded midwestern notion of what is a commutable distance.
@Littleaussie -
My husband and I lived in Grand Forks for two years, so I am somewhat familiar with your options in ND. UND or NDSU would probably be the best in-state options for her major. A couple local students I knew lived at home and commuted to UND to save housing costs, but that would only work if you live in or very near Grand Forks. Off-campus housing seemed to be very affordable by my east-coast standards, but whether that would be workable for an in-state student with just a part-time job would be something to investigate. If the city bus system still is free for students, that gives more options for a car-free student. Some opted to live on the Minnesota side of the river. And the city is flat enough to make bicycle commuting easy for much of the year.
She also should find out which programs at UND and NDSU are offered online. Not optimal of course, but she could save on housing and meals that way for a year or so, then move to campus.
Depending on what her test scores end up looking like, she might want to apply to some test-optional colleges/universities. For a current list see fairtest.org. That might expand her options.
Fingers crossed here for a good Questbridge match.
@happymomof1, unfortunately for the OP’s daughter, Questbridge is going to require the father’s info.
@CottonTales - Thanks for letting me know that about QB. So fingers crossed that the NCP can produce his numbers for at least the QB stage of the process.
@happymomof1, also if the mothers and fathers income exceeds ~60K, that would make the OP’s daughter ineligible as well. The amount is moot if he flat out refuses to fill out the forms.