<p>I'm currently applying financial aid to WashU, and they require both my non-custodial parent and his spouse's information. However, I have never met or even talked to my stepmom before, and she and I have no connection whatsoever. She makes 90k+ a year and has her own daughter, and she will not provide any financial assistance for me in college. Is there any way I can waive her information (house, income, etc) when applying for financial aid? Or do I have to wait until I get my financial aid package to do so? Because as of now, my parents and stepparents' income combined from both of my parents and stepparents is well over 200k. However, without my stepmom, it drops drastically. My custodial parent and her spouse (mom and stepdad) only make 40k a year combined. Thus, I really need financial assistance.</p>
<p>You will not be able to waive your stepmother’s financial info now or later. If a college requires the NCP, they will use that information whether or not the stepparent wants to help pay for the stepkid’s college. My friend’s D ended up at a school that doesn’t use the NCP for this very reason - the aid was much better when the dad & stepmother were not included in the income equation.</p>
<p>The school requires the non-custodial parent form. If that is required, and the non-custodial parent is married, both must include their information on the non-custodial parent Profile. The reality is your stepmom’s income is part of your dad’s family income. It MUST be reported. There are not waivers for your non-custodial parent’s spouse only.</p>
<p>You will find this to be the case at most schools that require the non-custodial parent information for financial aid purposes. </p>
<p>And as an FYI, if your custodial parent is married…custodial parent and spouse information must also be included on the Profile…whether the step parent plans to contribute to college costs or not.</p>
<p>And…if the custodial parent is married, the FAFSA requires both custodial parent and spouse info also.</p>
<p>In any case, your dad will fill out the NCP and it will ask for her info, so he’ll have to handle it.</p>
<p>Wash U will take into account the fact that she has a daughter, and that she’s your stepmom-not-in-your-home in their aid formula so it probably won’t be as bad a hit as if your mom made her income + $90K. Can you add her info to their NCP?</p>
<p>Do you think WashU and other schools will be open for appeal on my financial aid package if it’s not enough? These schools always say they take into account “special circumstances,” so if I explain to them later, will it be possible to exempt my stepmom’s information? </p>
<p>and @OHMom- my mom and stepdad’s information is presented on another financial form for WashU</p>
<p>You can appeal anything that you want. Be prepared for the strong possibility and likelihood that your appeal is not going to be granted. The school is not going to ignore the fact that your stepmom makes 90k, because your dad also benefits from the marriage and is not carrying the expenses of his household by himself.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, your stepsister will face the same thing when she applies to college; the school will take her stepdad’s (your fathers) income into consideration along with her dad and any spouse that he may have.</p>
<p>Puppy…</p>
<p>I doubt WashU will waive or ignore or diminish your SM’s income. They’re going to view her income as money that your dad has access to and helps him live a better lifestyle. It’s the money that is in HIS household…and schools like WashU expect BOTH parents to pay for college. </p>
<p>Think about it…if your mom was your NCP and her H was Bill Gates, do you think WashU would say, “well, that’s her NCP step-father so he shouldn’t have to contribute.”</p>
<p>Do you have financial safeties that you’ll happily attend if WashU isn’t affordable?</p>
<p>What IS the special circumstance you want to appeal? Your dad being married to someone who earns a high salary is NOT a special circumstance. Sure, you can appeal, but if the school requires the noncustodial parent and spouse info, why would they exclude YOUR stepparent’s income? You are not the only student applying to WashU who has a remarried non-custodial parent who earns an income.</p>
<p>As stated upstream,you can appeal whatever you want to appeal…but you also need to have some affordable and realistic college choices in your application list…in case your appeal does not get heard.</p>
<p>What are the circumstances under which you don’t have to report your NCP? If they’re not contributing to my college and not in contact, can I have the info colleges required waived for me?</p>
<p>In general, the only circumstance under which you don’t have to report your NCP is when you apply to a college that only uses FAFSA for determining aid.</p>
<p>Colleges don’t care about NCP’s willingness to pay; they are only concerned with their ability to pay.</p>
<p>Some schools will grant a noncustodial parent waiver for the Profile IF the student can demonstrate a significant estrangement from the NCP…things like…NCP being in jail, NCP never being in the picture at all, NCP having NO CONTACT and family is unable to make contact for an extended period of time.</p>
<p>If you know where your NCP lives, you receive or have received child support, your other parent receives spousal support, you get birthday cards every so often, etc…you would NOT be granted a waiver. These waivers are granted only in well documented cases where the NCP is completely out of the picture and has been for some time.</p>
<p>Each college will have it’s own rules and procedures regarding NCP waivers. I wouldn’t outright discourage a student from applying for one because you never know depending on the school. But students should understand that the schools will inquire about the details of the relationship, require some ‘proof’ of the degree of estrangement in the relationship, often require statements from outsiders(guidance counselor, clergy etc.) regarding the estrangment in the relationship. An NCP not being willing to contribute to college costs will not be enough. No one here can say for sure for a particular school exactly where the line lies between getting and not getting a waiver. So students need to weigh the probability and benefits of success in getting a waiver vs. the effort required to apply for a waiver.</p>
<p>My D used a non-custodial parent waiver for her father who lives half way around the world from her, and with whom she has had almost no personal contact since we separated when she was three. He does not support her at all, however she has had some of the contact and info that Thumper describes and she was completely honest on the form. It required her to fill in his info if she had it - she had address and email address but not phone number – and she described a visit that I arranged when she and her sister were about 8 and 9, when he was in the US visiting his parents and I hoped to rekindle a relationship between the girls and their father. The visit did not go well and he never tried to see the girls again, and we know that he has been in the US many times without contacting them, but he does write sometimes, holiday cards or the occasional (drunk) letter. D had a social worker who has known our family since D was 3 write a corroborating letter on his stationery with license #. I think that all got submitted with CSS and to the colleges she applied to. She was admitted early so she only sent apps to a few schools. The non custodial parent waiver itself actually says “little or no contact” not “no contact” and “occasional letters or phone calls” is one category they specifically ask about and these do not preclude the NCP waiver being approved. But you do need to have a situation where the parent is really not a part of your life and an objective third party (not an attorney) can verify that. e.g., D was just accepted to Williams with an amazing scholarship and it would never occur to her to tell her father this extraordinary news although she does have his email address. I don’t think she has ever written him an email. That degree of estrangement at least is what is required. </p>
<p>OP, if you have contact with or support from your dad, that clearly wouldn’t qualify for the NCP waiver, but if you have never met your step mother I would definitely write about that in the additional info section on the CSS profile and wherever you can on WUSTL’s forms. There are a few different places on the CSS for narratives filling in the details behind the numbers and you should use those if you need to. Additionally, you can fax to the school with your finaid documents anything that is relevant to your situation and that would corroborate claims of no contact and/or the impossibility of getting money from someone you have never met. Who knows what kind of result you will get but you can try. I would start now though, don’t wait until you have a package to appeal it - tell your story from the beginning. If you are living on 40K with no support from your father and stepmother, there is probably hardship you can describe. On the other hand, maybe your father’s household has a standard of living that should allow him to contribute substantially to your education. The more details you provide, the better chance you will have of extenuating circumstances being considered.</p>
<p>In a FA seminar at Amherst College, my D was told by FA officers that in calculating finaid packages the college was realistic about parental ability/willingness to give. They said, we take each student on a case by case basis and we’re not going to expect you to be able to get money for college from a parent who has made few or no contributions to your life thus far. (e.g. her dad lives in Asia and we have no legal ability to get him to pay child support, let alone pay for college tuition.) Of course that is the position of a small LAC not a University…but I still recommend that you try to make your situation as clear as you can in every place that you can describe or document it. If you will truly not be able to attend WUSTL without $X in FA then give it your very best shot.</p>
<p>it is a different situation when the ncp has not been in a child’s life for ten or more years…especially if he’s living in another country</p>
<p>How far does a college go to prove the estrangement? I am estranged from a parent, but I’ve been in the same city as him to visit family and friends over the years, and I get birthday cards occasionally. If I have my GC write a statement about it, will I have to do anything else to prove the estrangement?</p>
<p>ifoundalaska -</p>
<p>You will need to ask each and every college that requires the NCP information how best to demonstrate that you have no contact with that parent. Each of them makes up their own rules about this kind of thing.</p>
<p>ifoundalaska, the colleges give you a link to a NCP waiver form. For my D it was the same form for all the colleges that D completed apps for, although she only submitted to three - 1 LAC and 2 Universities. I would not think about it in terms of “how far will colleges go to prove it” - if it’s true, you don’t need to worry about whether they will or won’t investigate your circumstances. You do need to get someone, I guess your GC in this case, to write the 3rd party letter which you attach when you mail or fax it in, and you need to write your own statement and swear it’s true (although none of it is notarized) via your signature. Honestly, it was the easiest part of the application process by far. It’s a short form, your statement, the 3rd party statement and that’s it unless you also have verifying documents - order of protection, divorce decree, anything limiting his contact with you, in which case you should send these too. The few questions on the form ask for any contact info you have for the NCP, including employer if you know it, and ask you to say when your last contact was, what was the nature of that contact (visit, phone, letter, email) and if there is any regular contact and if so, what it is.
But as happymom said you will need to contact the colleges to get the waiver.</p>
<p>Often a GC isn’t privvy to whether a student has had contact or support from an NCP. Even if the GC could say, “I’ve never seen (name of NPC) at any school functions,” that isn’t enough. Many supportive and involved NCPs live in other states. Often a 3rd party needs to be someone who’d know that the NCP hasn’t been in the child’s life for a very long time and hasn’t supported the child.</p>
<p>If you/your parent is close to a clergy person who has long-known that the NCP has been AWOL and no support, that could be a credible 3rd-party person. </p>
<p>Ifoundalaska…did your mom receive support for you? It sounds like you have occasional contact with Bday cards. Was there support payments?</p>
<p>I also would not discourage a student asking for a NCP waiver…but they need to understand that this might not be granted. The onus of proof is on the student and family. The college can ask for documentation from multiple sources.</p>
<p>If one truly has no contact with a NCP, then that is one thing.</p>
<p>If the reason for asking for a waiver is because the NCP and/or spouse do NOT want to pay for college, that is another issue (which is what the OP is saying).</p>
<p>This form is fairly typical: <a href=“http://www.northeastern.edu/financialaid/pdf/non-custodial-waiver.pdf[/url]”>http://www.northeastern.edu/financialaid/pdf/non-custodial-waiver.pdf</a></p>