<p>As a reasonably well informed volunteer college application counselor in the inner city, I can tell you that the OP situation is QUITE common in such contexts--and perhaps in others. Here are some of my basic points on this sort of situation. </p>
<p>1) For FAFSA, you will always always always need info from at least one BIOLIGICAL parent. The very rare exceptions are if one or both parents are incarcerated, if there has been NO contact for 2-3 years or more, or if one or both parents are mentally incapacitated,maybe a few other exceptions but not many--determined by the FA office of the particular college. So for a start, grandparents, foster parents, legal guardians, (I think adoptive parents are about the only exception) are "off the hook." IN THIS OR ANY NONSTANDARD situation, you, college applicant, will probably need to document, document, document your particular situation (don't be like the family of the student I advised, mom died years ago way out of state, no chance of getting death cert. in time, dad just died in April, aunt raising student could not find her last copy of the notarized document from deceased mom appointing her as legal guardian, $22,000 of financial aid down the drain since he could not verify and document his particular status). You may be asked to document parent status, any money that IS received by whoever is supporting you, and so forth. Documents come from Social Security if you get $$ from them, tax forms, etc (most of that you should get in Jan. 2009 to verify 2008). Guidance counselors, social workers, case workers, or clergy can testify to your family situation (some official, usually on organization stationery and sometimes it needs to be notarized). It may sound annoying but you CAN do this--it is worth tens of thousands of dollars of your college education.</p>
<p>2) If you are applying to PROFILE schools (PROFILE is the more in-depth finan. aid app. of the College Board), they WILL want stepparent info (this is presuming, as your post says, that your mom is legally married now--if she is not, she is "single" and I think you could "slide" on the issue of responsib. of your stepfather). In essence it seems to me that PROFILE is looking for "more pockets" from which to get support for college costs. And this is appropriate--those who have the wherewithal to pay, should, while those with NO resources should get the support they need (IMHO). Basically with all this finan. aid stuff, you HAVE to fill out the forms, get them the info they ask for, and let the finan. chips fall where they may!</p>
<p>3) A suggested timeline (some of this paperwork and documentation you don't need to worry about yet). TIME WILL BE OF THE ESSENCE--THEY ARE HANDING OUT COLLEGE ACCEPTANCES AND MONEY TO PEOPLE, SO YOU WANT TO BE AT THE FRONT OF THE LINE!</p>
<p>Summer until school--do online research and find colleges you like, look for MERIT aid, find out SAT levels and see where you would be in the top 25% of the applicants (greater likelihood of getting merit aid), get a decent list that includes a cheaper school THAT YOU LIKE (this is your financial safety) and that you can probably be admitted to. Practice your vocab. on freerice.com. Start working on some of the finan. aid documentation you may need (as detailed above). As other posters have suggested, meet with a finan. aid person or TWO from diff. colleges in your area, to get advice on your situation. Talk to 2--some have less experience than others.</p>
<p>September--October. Take the SAT/ACT again unless your scores were really stellar, or TAKE it the first time! DO the October test, so you know ASAP what "'level" of school you should focus on. CHECK ALL DEADLINES for apps. for the schools on your list, and start applying. ASK for teacher recommendations right away in Sept (when you sign up for SAT --12 Sept. or so could be the deadline for Oct. SAT)--at least alert your 2-3 teachers that you want them to write recommendations. Keep practicing your vocab. on freerice.com, until you are done with SAT/ACT--or college!</p>
<p>October--November. Take SAT--ACT again if you are not satisfied with your scores. But GET THOSE COLLEGE APPLICATIONS cranked out! Check the websites of your 4--9 colleges (or whatever) to be SURE you are doing all the application paperwork. Check in on the finan. aid documentation that you are trying to assemble. CHECK, if you are applying to PROFILE schools, when their deadline is--some schools have much earlier deadlines for PROFILE (or for EA/ED, but I would not recommend that in general when you are going to need lots of finan. aid, because you will probably need to get offeres from several schools to compare aid offers/packages).</p>
<p>December--PLEASE finish all your college applications! If you have applied to EA or rolling admission schools, you might even have one acceptance in the bag! And oh yes, GET DECENT GRADES this fall, and always--the higher your GPA, the greater chance of getting better merit financial aid. </p>
<p>January--now, take a deep breath, and dive into your financial aid application process. Much of it depends on doing your taxes first, AND on the grown-ups doing their taxes, so BE SURE they and you GET your W-2 and get your taxes done RIGHT AWAY! DO the FAFSA and Profile HOPEFULLY by 15 February. IF your family does not do taxes, and you did not have a job in 2008 and do not do taxes, you don't even have to wait for that--FAFSA is not available until 1 January (that's why you do your college application process first) but you can do it any time after that. </p>
<p>February--IF for some reason you have not finished college applications yet, DROP them for a week, FINISH your FAFSA (lots of schools have a 15 February PRIORITY deadline--think of that as proving to the school that you are responsible enough to be given the full amt. of $$ they could choose to give you), and then go back to those college applications. </p>
<p>March--now or soon, college will be accepting you. IF they accept you, THEN they will start to put together your finan. aid offer/package. THEN they will probably discover the quirks in your family situation, and they will send you a letter asking for VERIFICATION--the documents I have mentioned above, and who knows what all else (the fed. gov. requires certain info, and then each college may have its own forms, etc. including "non-filer" form if you or family do not do taxes). THEY OFTEN NEED THESE FORMS IN TEN DAYS, AND CANNNOT PUT TOGETHER YOUR FINAN. AID COMPLETE UNTIL YOU SEND THEM THE FORMS. THAT IS WHY YOU WORKED ON IT SUMMER 2008, AND CHASED IT DOWN IN THE FALL-WINTER,TO BE READY WHEN THEY ASK FOR IT) (And always keep copies of everything you send them, your letters and their forms that you have filled out).</p>
<p>And (this should have been in December) start accumulating the $200--600 or so that you WILL need to send in May 1, to RESERVE your place and housing at the college of your choice. Don't be the person who loses their spot at their first choice college because they spent their Christmas money on the Valentine Ball, and had no money for their deposit which IS almost always due, 1 May.</p>
<p>April--you should have ALL your acceptances in, and all your financial aid packages as well, so you should get a chance to compare--this place offers more this, this place more that, this place more loans, this place more $$ but it will cost me more to get there, and so forth. REMEMBER WHEN YOU ARE DECIDING, THAT THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF GREAT COLLEGES OUT THERE--AND THAT YOU CAN ALWAYS TRANSFER. It's an easier mistake to fix, than to be in debt for decades because you never got around to meeting finan. aid deadlines, or never bothered to get the paperwork in place. AND now you can send in a deposit BY MAY FIRSTnto a wonderful college, wait for the next round of paperwork (make an appointment for a doctor physical now, and get documentation of your health insurance so you don;t have to pay for the college ins. if you don't need it). And think that in 5 months you will be moving into a college dorm, and a whole new life adventure!</p>
<p>I hope this is helpful. PLEASE doublecheck deadlines, paperwork, and don't ignore or lose letters that you get! And TALK to the college staff--it is their job and joy, or should be, to get worthy and invested students to attend their college.</p>