<p>So i'm sure everyone has heard this story before, divorced parents, live with mom who earn about 14kish a year (counting child support), dad isn't involved in paying a cent for my college, but css still considers the non-custodial parent's money (110k income, decent amount of assets), blah blah blah.</p>
<p>I realize my situation is FAR from unique. With just my mom (FASFA), my EFC was around 13kish, because she unwisely transferred some 100k+ dollars into her account that she borrowed from my aunt to buy our house (another strange choice when her income earning abilities are so low). I'm sure it would've been lower otherwise. Yet with CSS included, the aid sent by Northwestern had my EFC at around 49k. And the 3k wasn't in grants, but in loans. Quite obviously, we cannot even DREAM of meetings this EFC.</p>
<p>HOWEVER i have heard that some universities have some sort of waiver that if you get signed by the non-custodial parent, somehow waves the non-custodial parent's contribution. Does Northwestern have this waiver?</p>
<p>You need to contact the Financial Aid Office and show them a copy of your income taxes and explain why your financial aid award is inaccurate. Do this soon so that they can make changes. I have petitioned my awards package at Northwestern before and they will make the necessary changes.</p>
<p>Remember that a simple refusal by a non-custodial parent to pay for college is not sufficient to get a waiver. Otherwise, there isn't a non-custodial parent in the country who would agree to pay. (And a lot more parents would become non-custodial, at least on paper.)</p>
<p>They do have one and I had to fill it out. I called them and they mailed the form to me. The big thing you need is a third party letter confirming your situation. This can be from a priest, lawyer, counselor, ect but not from a family friend or relative or something along those lines. Someone "impartial" basically. Go ahead and get that taken care of ASAP!</p>