NO AID from CSS Profile

So my parents are divorced. When they got divorced they made it so my mom was responsible for paying for college. So my mom filled out the CSS profile. Then my dad filled out the non-custodial profile. So they took my dads income into account which resulted in 0 aid. The problem is that my mom only made 20k last year and according to what they decided in court is responsible for college. My dad will not budge in contributing as apparently he had to pay for other things (he basically supports me). So what do I do? What do I tell the schools? I’m really confused, would I be able to show the schools the agreement made in court?

I’m sorry to tell you this, but colleges that require the CSS profile really aren’t going to care whatever side-deal your parents made in their divorce settlement. They are going to consider his income/savings in deciding whether and what amount of aid to give you. Do you have schools on your list that are affordable without your father contributing?

Colleges won’t care about that divorce agreement.

And seriously, who would actually believe that a parents making $20k would be “responsible for paying for college.”

@mom2collegekids it used to be much much more until two years ago when she went to work for some non profit. She also gets monthly payments from my dad…I do not know the depths of my families finances, just that there was an agreement in a divorce settlement and apparently my mother “forgot.” I think since my dad had always made more money she was planning on him just doing it despite what they actually agreed on.

@suzy100 I am already into the school I plan on attending. I guess I will just have to take out a bunch of private loans. Maybe my dad will be willing to help me out a bit in paying them back.

You need to apply to some affordable schools instead. You likely can’t qualify for enough in private loans if your mom is your co-signer (she won’t qualify). And that is a terrible idea anyway.

You can’t attend the school you plan on. You need to find someplace more affordable for next fall, take a gap year to apply to more affordable choices, or start at a community college.

If you apply to a school that uses FAFSA only (not the Profile), they will not ask for or consider your dad’s finances. They will, of course, count any money your mom receives from your dad, such as child support.

You will not be able to borrow enough for full college costs and it would be insane to do so anyway.

There are still FAFSA-only schools you could get into, or try one of @intparent’s other suggestions.

<<<<
am already into the school I plan on attending. I guess I will just have to take out a bunch of private loans. Maybe my dad will be willing to help me out a bit in paying them back.
<<<<

Well, it’s a fact of life that sometimes our plans (things that we’re “already into”) have to change regardless of our “wants”.

It’s still Dec. It’s not like this is June or July.

Your mom will NOT qualify to cosign your student loans. Your dad will not likely cosign them because he knows that he’d likely get stuck paying them back because you won’t be able to afford the debt.

The school is not affordable. You need to change your plans. Yes, it’s upsetting. Yes, you’ve probably have been chatting with some others who’ll be attending that school, but you will not be able to come up with the funds to pay.

It’s very sad that some young folks first have no idea about the impact of such debt, but also immediate turn to the idea of “taking out a bunch of loans” in order to get what they want.

You are talking about debt levels of $200k+! The most an undergrad should have in debt is about $30 total…maybe a bit more if the career goal is eng’g and the student will likely finish that degree.

Someone who borrows $200k+ will find that there debt will have grown substantially while in college, and their payments upon graduation will likely be more than half of their take home pay…for 10+ LONG years. You’d be miserable from the age of 22-32. Awful.

You have a brother in college? If so, how are his costs covered? Seems like the info about “mom paying” should have come out when that happened.

You got into Holy Cross. Are you premed?

What are your stats? Are you a NMSF?

Unless you can get your dad to change his mind, HC will not be affordable. And frankly, if you’re premed, you should have very minimal debt as an undergrad.

Med school is extremely expensive. If that’s in your plan (basing this on HC and your screenname), you need to realize that you’ll also have big debt for med school. Even public med schools cost a lot of money and there are many costs not listed in the COA.

Taking out lots of private loans is a terrible idea. That has that the risk of putting your mom’s financial security in jeopardy. I agree with the comments that you need to find a cheaper school. Your best bet would be a local city school or community college.

I know your heart is probably set on this school but it is not the only one you will succeed at.

Good luck.

I have a friend who called her school and explained her financial situation more in-depth when her financial aid wasn’t enough, and the school gave her more aid. I say it’s worth a shot to give them a call. A lot of smaller private colleges will do that and I bet Holy Cross is one of them. Obviously, be tactful about it, and don’t fight them too hard if they tell you no.

If that doesn’t work, the FAFSA should give you more aid. If it doesn’t, you may have to consider, as mentioned before, a cheaper college, at least for a year or two, and then transfer your credits.

Good luck!

“Thr FAFSA should give you more aid” – what does that mean? FAFSA measures your eligibility for things like Pell grants and federal loans.

And sometimes transfer students get worse aid, so the OP has to consider that when making a plan.

A FAFSA-only school that does not use the CSS NCP form will just use mom’s income, resulting in a lower net price.

But those schools also give less aid.

Someone posted the exact same scenario a few weeks ago and got the same responses. Interesting.

Is The College of the Holy Cross her dream school? I did not see that in the post.

Holy Cross is not an easy school to get into and it is not what I would consider a school that would easily offer more aid. But as the other poster pointed out it is worth the effort to try. Worst case is they “no”.

Good luck to you.

Remember Op’s parents are first in line to pay for his/ her education. Where do you think institutional aid comes from- the generosity of other people’s parents.

Holy cross is not going to give op more aid because they have determined that Op’s parents can afford to pay full fright. They don’t get involved with divorce decrees and who us suppose to pay what. Frankly they do not care who pays as long as it gets paid. From what I have seen from Holy Cross, is that they rarely budge on financial aid. They are not going to budge because dad has the $$ and feels that he is not suppose to oat because that was the agreement

Op needs to find out from mom ( if she is the custodial parent - money received from dad must also get reported on the FAFSA) how much she is willing to pay or borrow for you to go to a FAFSA only school where you stand to get merit $$ to help defray the costs.

It may be worth showing mother’s decrease in income if the 2015 income reported was much higher. It may still not be enough to afford Holy Cross, but it is an argument that might be accepted. Showing them the divorce agreement will NOT help.

I don’t fault your parents because they were making the financial agreement that was best for them at the time. Outside entities (mortgage company, colleges, credit card companies) don’t have to agree with those divorce agreements.

It’s unfortunate that your mom changed to a much lower paying career just as your brother was applying to colleges. Who’s paying for his school? Unless he’s at a FAFSA only school, both parents’ incomes would have been looked at to create his package too. Did he qualify for a lot of merit aid?

Don’t accept the ED agreement from HC until you know for sure that your dad will pay for it (without borrowing). If he won’t, you have to turn it down. You can’t apply to other colleges with an accepted ED agreement in hand or you risk losing all of your acceptances.

Find out how much your parents are willing to pay without borrowing. You can borrow ~$5500/year and you can probably earn ~$3k/year if you work summers. That’s your budget. If your dad won’t pay anything and your mom can’t, you need to find schools that offer guaranteed merit for your stats.

<<<
I bet Holy Cross is one of them. Obviously, be tactful about it, and don’t fight them too hard if they tell you no.

If that doesn’t work, the FAFSA should give you more aid. If it doesn’t, you may have to consider, as mentioned before, a cheaper college, at least for a year or two, and then transfer your credits.
<<<<

The above is just wishful thinking. @dragonfly26 are you a student?

FAFSA is an app. It doesn’t give any aid, much less “more aid.” And the aid that is given by the fed gov’t is very limited and this student has already been awarded the max fed aid possible based on mom’s income/assets info.

Although mom is low income, it sounds like she gets substantial child and/or spousal support which may prevent him from getting much fed aid anyway.

@medrunner1998 WHAT is your FAFSA EFC?