your permanent record including all of the information, your mother wrote down when you first got registered for school, @ your high school. At my school, we go through everything before we write letters. Yes, I have had many students who were asked to submit copies of the divorce decree (so it is not an unusual request).
I see what you’re saying. So even if they don’t require it at the beginning, they may ask for it later while the decision is pending.
I wonder if my high school would still have any of that information. I graduated in 2011 which is a long time for them to hold onto my full file. In addition, my mother had already remarried by that point. She remarried in 2004 I believe.
Schools can ask for anything they want when it comes down to giving out their money.
Yes, they must keep your files forever. Schools get asked for information all of the time from former grads.
In NYC even when a school closes, the records are maintained in the building.
But you already know if your mother is still currently married, she and your stepfather’s information must go on the FAfSA and the profile.
Her and my stepfathers information is on there, I was able to link the IRS system to CSS for that. My IRS info doesn’t link because once somebody filed a fraudulent return under my SSN and my file is now flagged, but I’m prepared to submit my personal (independent) tax returns from the last several years. The NCP waiver is the last piece.
You don’t deal with anyone in your father’s side of the family. If they know that he is not working or dies not have any income it is easier to just get him to fill out the information.
I know people are skeptical but when I was 6 years old, my father decided America was just too damn hard for him. He literally walked out one day, with us BEGGING him not to leave, and he got on a plane and went back to Russia. My parents had no contact with each other until my mother flew to Russia to settle the divorce. He didn’t have any siblings, and his parents supported him walking out on our family (my mother, myself, and my 2 year old brother). So they did not ever reach out to us. Nor did my mother want them to. They did not want him to move to America in the first place. I have not had any single contact with him since he left.
As mentioned upstream. The colleges will tell you what you need to do to get a NCP waiver for the Profile.
Do what EACH college requests.
There is nothing we can do to change a college’s requirements…or decision.
Contact the colleges YOU need to deal with.
I have, as I’ve said. I just wanted advice because it seems like a uniquely convoluted issue, between the divorce, immigration, lack of child support of any kind, etc.
Colleges have seen it ALL. Your situation, while complicated to you, is something schools see at times when students request waivers. Nothing convoluted…At all.
Got it,
Well in any case, hopefully my ex-vice-principal can/will write something about it. 2 of my mother’s friends will be writing letters for me, along with myself and my mother. My brother would be too young to remember.
Do you have any immigration records? Do they list your mother as a single parent? Do you have a passport? Are you a US citizen? If you got a passport before you were 16, your mother had to prove she was the only parent.
You’re just going to have to work with each school that is asking for more information, and if they won’t take what you have, you’ll have to cross that school off your list.
You could try to contact your father and use that information to show you tried (returned letters, letters from relatives stating they couldn’t find him).
If you have graduated almost 6 years ago, what if you waited until you are 24? Would this college only look at your income and consider you independent for financial aid purposes at that age?
OP is only 22.
But yes…waiting out another year would do the trick,
Some private schools still deem you to be dependent, if you start out as dependent, even if you turn 24, so you need to find out about that.
Yep, all the more frustrating because I’ve been financially independent since I was 18 but oh well
I turn 24 Feb 2018.
What if you finished your degree at a school that only uses FAFSA or doesn’t require NCP info?
I’m applying to some of those - so I guess we will see. I’ve got nothing to hide so I will be as helpful as I can be in order to obtain the NCP waiver.
My college counselor and my mother both think I should just put my stepfather as my father on the CSS, because technically he adopted me and my younger brother, and by default, that meant my biological father had no rights to me. In order to do so, my mother had to go to court and prove that my biological father was entirely unreachable. They figure that it isn’t lying, and if a college still reads through the information and requests more information it’s not like I was lying?
I honestly don’t know, this is really convoluted and a bit unfair. I am unable to find any “official” person to write a statement for me as some universities require. The pastor of the church I went to as a kid said he wouldn’t write one for me. The dean of students at my high school keeps saying she’ll meet with me and then not responding to me when I ask what’s a good time. It’s starting to feel like some schools are going to be off the table because I won’t be able to complete the NCP to their satisfaction.
Maybe my current community college counselor will write something for me. I don’t know.
Whoa, there is no ‘technical’ adoption. If he adopted you, he IS your father for FAFSA and CSS purposes (and a whole lotta other purposes). My daughter is adopted. I’m her parent. That’s the end of the story.
Filling out CSS and FAFSA any other way is not correct. Even if your bio father was still in the picture, the court has terminated his rights and he cannot complete any forms as ‘father.’