<p>I have a concern regarding my possibility of obtaining need-based aid. My parents are recently divorced. My mom (who I live with 100% of the time) makes about 33k a year (this number includes child support, about 16k without CS). I understand that only her information will be put on her CSS/PROFILE and the FAFSA, but my father makes about 70k a year (minus child support, about 53k). I'm worried about the non-custodial CSS/PROFILE and it's impact on my chances for financial aid. </p>
<p>My dad has shown/told me he won't pay anything towards my education and my mom obviously can't. My mom's house net equity is about 350k, and my dad's is 0 (apartment). </p>
<p>So the real question is: even though my dad clearly has nothing to do with paying for college, how much will his CSS/PROFILE contribute towards how much a college will expect me to pay? Is there any chance a college will understand my situation and disregard his financial information?</p>
<p>Any school that requires CSS/PROFILE will evaluate your need assuming your dad will pay, and the fact that he won’t will be irrelevant to them. CSS/PROFILE schools will also consider the income of your parents’ spouses should your parents remarry while you are in school. And CSS/PROFILE will expect your mother to use her 350k in equity to help pay for your education. Perhaps you should consider schools that only ask for FAFSA.</p>
<p>NO…your mom’s info only will be used on the FAFSA. For the Profile, BOTH parents info is usually requested. Your dad will file a non-custodial parent Profile. </p>
<p>Re: home equity…you’ll need to check EACH school. Some include a max percentage, some don’t include it at all, and some include a great chunk of it in the asset calculation.</p>
<p>For Profile schools, your dad’s income and assets will be taken into consideration in most cases. My understanding is that SOME Profile schools do not require the non-custodial parent info…you would need to check EACH school to find this out.</p>
<p>Yes, like Thumper said, the way the Profile will look at your mother’s home equity will vary from school to school. The Profile just collects information, it does not determine how any individual school must use that information. In our case, my son’s college limits how much home equity they assess to some percentage of our income, not the entire home equity value. Also, you can ask for a non-custodial parent waiver even at Profile schools. They are under no obligation to grant one, but you can make your case for it and see if they’d be willing to waive your father’s contribution. I don’t think it’s a common practice to grant those waivers, but a friend of my son’s has gotten a waiver when his father refused to pay. It will depend on your circumstances and also on the school’s disposition regarding such things. In any case, even if it’s unlikely, it doesn’t hurt to ask.</p>
<p>You should make sure to apply to a variety of schools with a range of financial aid possibilities. Don’t get locked into the idea of only certain places being acceptable to you. You will have to be flexible and practical as you approach this.</p>
<p>Be flexible as others have said, and approach school financial aid departments directly. Really, I can’t stress enough how important it is to be flexible; there may be money for you, but it may not be at your first choice school.</p>
<p>Run the FAFSA on your dad <em>as if</em> he had custody of you – that is, run his numbers, counting yourself as a member of his household. (but if you have any assets or income, don’t list them there). Doing this will give you <em>his</em> expected contribution – then you can ADD that to the numbers you get from your mom - and you will have a rough approximation what the CSS-Profile schools will expect from your family. You will find FAFSA calculators at [FinAid</a> | Calculators](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org/calculators]FinAid”>http://www.finaid.org/calculators)</p>
<p>Your mom’s home equity might actually add more to the equation than your dad’s income, depending on how the schools treat it. So you definitely need to include some lower-tuition, public colleges in your search.</p>
<p>George Washington University does not require noncustodial parent forms for the CSS/PROFILE. The Collegeboard’s website has a list of what schools require what, but I can’t seem to find it right now. There are definitely some schools that do not require the noncustodial parent information. You can also apply for waivers for that information, but it varies by school and it doesn’t sound like you qualify.</p>
<p>GW doesn’t require the non-custodial parent form…BUT last I checked they won the prize for having the HIGHEST cost of attendance in the country for a four year college. AND they do not meet full need.</p>
<p>Most Profile schools do not require the non-custodial form to be filled out. However, they might have their own institutional forms that the non-custodial parent must submit. Here’s the list of all schools that accept the Profile, which indicates whether or not the non-custodial form is required:</p>
<p>$33,000 is not near poverty level. $16,000 would be near the poverty level for a family of two.</p>
<p>In any case, most institutions and the federal government see it as the family’s responsibility, primarily, to send their children to college. We’re one of the few Western countries that still does it that way, but that’s the way we do it.</p>
<p>Some colleges will renegotiate your financial aid package and be sympathetic, but honestly this is not an uncommon problem. My parents also told me that they could not/would not pay any money towards my tuition. What you will need to do is be very flexible – apply to schools at which you are very likely to get substantial merit aid; apply to schools and contact their financial aid offices to ask if you can negotiate something with them because of your father’s decision not to support you in college, and apply to some public universities in your state that will be cheaper for you.</p>
<p>Actually, they just got beat out by Sarah Lawrence and NYU. That said, they also have GREAT (but no guarantee) financial aid programs for high achieving low income students. Almost all of their aid is need based and need aware.</p>
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<p>That’s also very true. Kind of like saying $450k is “upper middle class”. We know you meant well, but it’s not true. My family of three makes about $23,000 and that’s actually just over 150% of the poverty line (the official “low income” line).</p>
<p>I find it extremely odd that your parent’s divorce agreement does not accommodate a reasonable splitting the cost of higher education, especially since it is recent. Have you discussed this with your mom? Can she file a petition to have your father obligated to provide a share of the cost? Your dad is still your dad and is responsible for sharing in all costs relating to your education, health and welfare. After all, he didn’t divorce YOU. I don’t know what state you’re in but it might be worth looking into with the organization that manages the child support.</p>
<p>If the child support ends when you turn 18, and that $16,000 goes away, then you actually will be close to the poverty line. If the support continues until you complete post secondary school, then I can see an argument from your dad that he is already, via support, providing his contribution.</p>
<p>If the child support is child support only (not alimony) then by rights it would be fair to apportion it to you for education costs provided you are not living at home unless you have siblings…</p>
<p>Any way you cut it, your father does not get to CHOOSE whether or not he is responsible for contributing toward your education, at least in the eyes of the universities’ financial aid officers. That horse was out of the barn 18 years ago!</p>
<p>It may be worth a conversation to this effect with him to help him understand the position he’s putting you in. The word for it is : untenable.</p>
<p>kmccrindle there is a thing in the divorce contract but it only says he has to pay 1/2 the cost of a local community college (which ends up being about 3k a year, which is not very helpful). </p>
<p>I do have younger brothers and sisters and all of the payments are child support; there is no alimony. Would it help to have younger siblings when applying for financial aid?</p>
<p>The only siblings that really make a difference in the financial aid calculations are ones who are enrolled in college WHILE you are enrolled in college. These sibs will contribute to the total number in your family, but that doesn’t make a huge dent in the formula from what I’ve seen.</p>
<p>It is true that the financial aid officers at schools that require non-custodial parent information don’t care whether your dad WANTS to contribute…they only care if he CAN contribute.</p>
<p>BUT there is no law saying that parents MUST pay for the college educations of their children. That is a personal family decision. </p>
<p>It sounds like your dad will pay for 1/2 of your schooling at the local community college. Perhaps starting off there would be helpful to you financially…take the gen ed courses, and then transfer to a four year school to finish your degree.</p>
<p>Either that…or apply to schools that use ONLY the FAFSA for financial aid consideration…or to Profile schools that do NOT require completion of the non-custodial parent forms.</p>
<p>When I would be applying for a non-custodial CSS/PROFILE waiver, what would be the best explanation for why I need one? Would having no way to contact my dad be an acceptable reason for a college to grant a waiver?</p>
<p>It might be impossible to claim there is no contact when your dad has been paying child support. From what I have read on CC waivers often require evidence that there as been no contact and no support or several years. It sounds more like he is just not willing to pay, which the school won’t really care about.</p>
<p>swimcatsmom: Not always true, re: support. My ex got in arrears so far that my state got his state to find him in contempt, so he was threatened with jail time and started paying through wage garnishment. But because the support claim was adjudicated between the states, I am not a party to the claim (seriously) and therefore have no legal right to information gleaned from it. What this all means is that I get regular child support payments, but we stil have no contact info for my ex. He does occasionally email the children, but it’s obvious that the estrangement continues.</p>
<p>Several schools granted the waiver based on the situation, even though we were getting support. That said, I agree that students are unlikely to get a waiver just based on “My dad refuses to pay.” What I always recommend is that students are candid with their possible FAO’s and keep documentation. Asking for a waiver can’t hurt.</p>
<p>elevenoclock: The best reason would be the honest one. Write a narrative letter and ask for information about the waiver process. Some schools will be more forthcoming than others.</p>