<p>Does anyone know how important the NCP form is for the CSS profile?
My son's father informed him he is "too busy" to fill it out.
I have filled out and submitted the FAFSA and CSS with all of my information.</p>
<p>It depends on the college. Some colleges that require the NCP statement will consider the financial aid application incomplete if it’s not submitted, and so your son will not be eligible for institutional aid without it.</p>
<p>If the college is wanting it, then it’s important. Being “too busy” won’t be an acceptable reason - otherwise all NCP’s would use that excuse. </p>
<p>These colleges want to be sure that they aren’t giving precious grants to students who have NCPs with highish incomes/assets.</p>
<p>The colleges that require NCP info need his income/assets info to determine how much the two parents can contribute towards your child’s education.</p>
<p>Like vballmom said, the first issue is that if the college requires the form then your son’s financial aid application will remain incomplete and not get processed.</p>
<p>Make sure his dad understands that. Colleges will have their own formula for how to factor in a non-cusotidal parent’s income and assets, but it’s not as though that obligates your ex to pay anything – it’s just that the financial aid award will likely be based on him doing so. In other words, if it is reassuring to him that it’s not going to legally bind him to payments, then maybe that will help him get over the initial resistance to filling it out. Also, he should know that the information he provides will not be available to you or your son. That privacy piece is important to some people.</p>
<p>The main thing is to get him to fill it out so your son can get his financial aid application processed. What happens after that in terms of sharing college costs (or not) comes later.</p>
<p>If your ex flat-out refuses, then you can call the college financial aid offices and ask what your options are. I don’t tihnk there would be any easy resolution for you, but that would be the next step. Obviously if simply refusing got non-custodial parents off the hook then everyone would do it – but you need to follow up with the colleges on that.</p>
<p>Also make sure you son has applications in to some FAFSA-only schools (state schools are usually FAFSA only) where your ex’s information is not necessary.</p>
<p>*Also make sure you son has applications in to some FAFSA-only schools (state schools are usually FAFSA only) where your ex’s information is not necessary. *</p>
<p>Yes!!! Did your son apply to any FAFSA-only schools or schools that don’t require NCP info?</p>
<p>Has your ex agreed to pay a portion of your son’s college costs? </p>
<p>IF your ex makes a good living and/or has decent assets, and he refuses to contribute, then he probably feels that it’s a waste of his time to fill the forms out since your child won’t be able to afford to go to the Profile schools anyway. After all, if the expected contribution will be too high, and he won’t pay, attendance would be impossible. Right? </p>
<p>Could this be the case?</p>
<p>answer: MANDATORY</p>
<p>Just curious, what about the students that don’t have a mother or father in their life, and live with a single parent. The students that have never met their “real mother/real father.”</p>
<p>Students in those situations can appeal to the specific colleges for a waiver to the non-custodial parent piece of the CSS Profile application. Schools vary in their requirements for granting the waiver – it’s really up to the college how it chooses to deal with those requests.</p>
<p>It’s a very different situation when dealing with an NCP that was essentially just an egg donor or sperm donor in the child’s life. Some colleges are very understanding in those situations.</p>
<p>However, when the NCP has been in the child’s life (either thru visits or child support), it’s unlikely colleges are going to accept the “he’s too busy” excuse in regards to filling out Profile. Otherwise, all NCPs would give that excuse when requested.</p>
<p>That’s not necessarily true. Both kids I personally know who have gotten waivers had fathers who were more involved than just being sperm donors. This question comes up here on CC often, and the pertinant advice is for students to contact the colleges directly. Colleges vary widely in how they treat these situations.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Do you really think any colleges are going to accept the “he’s too busy” excuse??? </p>
<p>I bet not.</p>
<p>The excuses people give for not filling it out are often not the real reasons. We are not omniscient here on College Confidential. Just recently a student asked about this and was given a lot of intense advice about how unlikely it would be to get a waiver, and then that student came back to update their situation. They found that a number of the colleges were quite accomodating.</p>
<p>Is “I’m too busy” a legitimate excuse? Probably not, but it’s also not accurate to pretend we know how any given college is going to treat a particular situation, nor do we know what the real situation with the non-custodial parent is, in fact.</p>
<p>It was explained to the OP how the process works, and what piece the non-custodial parent form fills in the FA process. They now have to follow through on that with the non-custodial parent and/or with the colleges. No amount of bolded text, exclamation points, or exagerration about parents having to be nothing but “sperm donors” to get a waiver really changes any of that.</p>
<p>The excuses people give for not filling it out are often not the real reasons.</p>
<p>I totally agree with that, but the OP can really only tell the school what the NCP told her. She can add that she believes that he’s trying to avoid contributing, but I doubt that will help her case.</p>
<p>I believe that the “real reason” why the NCP won’t fill out the forms is because he wants the whole issue of parent contribution to exclude him. He may fear that if he fills out the forms, and the EFC comes back high, then it will be obvious that he can afford to contribute, but chooses not to. He’d rather that info not get disclosed.</p>
<p>Although the NCP’s financial info is not disclosed to the custodial parent, the resulting can reveal if he has a big income/lots of assets. A mom who has a low income/no assets will surely know that the NCP is affluent if the EFC comes back very high.</p>
<p>Thank you for all your help. He has applied to some fafsa only schools. I’m sure the colleges have heard all the stories before too, but I understand they have a right to know the status of both parents in cases of divorce. The sad truth is I don’t think he has any money and don’t expect him to contribute and our old court order states he does not have to anyway, but it is the formality. He just does not get it and it is sad as it has made my son very upset. He is a smart kid and probably had a chance at some of the schools he applied to, but now I just hope he gets into our home state U and he will have to go there even if he does not want to.</p>
<p>^ Lots of us are in this spot. To me I think D can go to a state U, even though she had close to Ivy stats, and still be successful. The saddest part is, years after the divorce is over and the home environment has improved, the issue of the divorce has to be dredged up all over again. We tell the kids the divorce was not their fault, but then it impacts their college options. But I do understand the other side too; if parents could say they refused to pay or fill out forms and that worked out favorably, then everyone would do it.</p>
<p>judigir, you should definitely inquire about the non-custodial parent waivers. Just because some schools can be stingy with them is not a reason to not ask. Just anecdotally I have heard (not sure if it’s true or not) that if you have any kind of documentation that the NCP has no money anyway then it can be easier to get the waiver. Makes sense, too, because even if the NCP filled out the forms and all it’s not like there would be any possibility to contribute anyway. Contact them and explain your situation.</p>
<p>RENT OF 2 - YOu don’t remember who the poster was you referenced as having been accommodated, do you? I ask because I’d like to go searching - for this reason.</p>
<p>I contacted each of my D’s schools, and they all had different instructions. I followed the instructions, got the letters (counselor, acquaintances), filled out the forms. But I’ve not heard one word from any of them. I thought it might be because financial aid forms weren’t in yet, but…I’m wondering what I’ll be doing when it comes time that I get the e-mail from College Board (…AND…you still need the NCP form). Because no schools have contacted me to say the waiver request is “approved”. I can of course try them later (after they have time to sort things). I just thought at least ONE would have a proactive stance. But…we’ll see.</p>
<p>So I was curious how it was that someone felt he/she’d already been “accommodated”. Was it just in supply the form for the REQUEST…or did they actually hear back with an approval? I thought you might have meant last year, but you said “just recently”…so I was very curious since I’m sitting here waiting myself.</p>
<p>I’m not sure of the poster’s screename but it was fairly recently (in the last month or so?). The poster came back and actually commented on how he/she was surprised at the cooperation he/she’d received from some of the schools (not all, by any means) given the dire predictions given on College Confidential. I know it’s like untangling a drawer full of loose yarn to go back and try to find that poster with all the activity here, but it wasn’t that long ago.</p>
<p>But I’m not sure how finalized that process was with the poster… I just don’t recall. I know that both the students I know personally who got waivers got them at very different stages of the process. One was early (for an ED app) and the other was actually after he’d finally gotten his NCP to submit the form. The NCP had a professional job and a decent income but refused to pay – in fact he originally refused to fill out the NCP form because he made clear he wasn’t going to pay, but the kid and the mom talked him into it just so at least the kid’s aid app could be processed, and then they’d try to come up with the extra money on their own. When they got the aid package there was no way they could raise the additional money, the dad sent the kid a “bye, have a nice life” email, and they applied for a waiver… which they got. (The mom had to be persistant though and after an underling told her ‘no’ she went over his head to the director of FA who granted it quickly.)</p>