<p>My dad isn't legally obligated to pay my mom child support and does not claim me as a dependent, but Boston College is asking for his tax returns and whatnot. He makes roughly the same as my mom. Will my estimated financial aid award double since they are looking at his as well? Do any divorced parents or students with divorced parents have any experience with this? How do colleges use the noncustodial parent income when determining financial aid?</p>
<p>* Will my estimated financial aid award double since they are looking at his as well?*</p>
<p>I don’t think you meant to write that.</p>
<p>Your award won’t double…if anything it will be reduced.</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter that your dad isn’t obligated to pay. your mom isn’t obligated to pay either. BC and other similar schools expect ALL parents to help pay for THEIR child’s college costs. BC isn’t your parent…right? So, they natually expect your parents to pay if they have the income. </p>
<p>Other divorced families either have both parents paying…or they select affordable schools that don’t require both parents to pay.</p>
<p>It’s a choice to go to BC.</p>
<p>They will expect both parents to contribute to their ability based on income and assets. If your parents have similar income, expect the EFC to raise accordingly.</p>
<p>BC requires the non-custodial parent information. It doesn’t matter at all what your parents’ divorce decree says about your non-custodial parent paying…or not paying. The school requires the financial information from both parents.</p>
<p>BC will compute your family contribution based on the income and assets from BOTH parents (and any spouses if they have remarried). They will give you an amount to pay…they really don’t care who pays it. That is up to your family to determine.</p>
<p>But to answer your question…YES, the income/assets of your non-custodial parent WILL be used.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids I meant EFC double/award halved. Well dang, goodbye BC.</p>
<p>Go to your high school counselor and see if you can get this waived. If your father has not been active in your life, has not supported you, has had no contact, sometimes this can be done. Your counselor would know how this works.</p>
<p>A non-custodial waiver will only be granted IF the student has no contact with the non-custodial parent…and for good reason…and for a lengthy period of time. I didn’t see anything in the OPs post that said that the non-custodial parent was not in the picture at all. The OP simply stated that the NCP was not expected to pay for college. THAT is not a reason for NCP waiver.</p>
<p>I don’t think the GC does this. I think the NCP waiver app is from the school and the school may grant approval of the waiver if the dad is not in the student’s life and hasn’t been for awhile. And some schools never/rarely give these waivers.</p>
<p>It sounds like the dad has filled out the NCP info…I highly doubt in cases where the dad has filled out NCP info that a waiver would be granted. Those waivers are for kids who haven’t had contact with their dads, their whereabouts are unknown, etc. The waivers aren’t for situation where NCPs don’t want to pay…if that were a reason, all NCPs would say that they won’t pay.</p>
<p>My dad hasn’t filled out anything yet. He has only done his taxes once in the past decade and owes almost $100,000 to the IRS. It seems like there isn’t much of a way around this though. Luckily Villanova isn’t asking for anything from him.</p>
<p>you need to ask financial aid office directly regards to ncp waver. every school has different way of handling the waver. some require third party letter, proof of no child support, dont know where about, ect…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No there is not. The fact that he owes the IRS does not factor into aid decisions. A divorcee decree that says he will not contribute to your education does not have any impact on aid decisions. If it were that simple, every divorcing couple could use this as a ploy to get more aid. (Some couples could even have fake divorces to get more aid). There is just not enough aid to go around and hence if Villanova gives you better aid, go there as long as you can afford.</p>
<p>How was your BC aid processed without your dad’s info? </p>
<p>Anyway…I hope that Nova works out…they don’t promise to meet need, so you could get gapped.</p>
<p>I hope you have a financial safety (a school that you know for sure that you can afford).</p>
<p>That is great that you have Villanova - but don’t write off BC just yet.Would your Dad fill out the NCP if you asked him to? Does BC require the IDOC or submittal of tax returns? </p>
<p>The answers to these 2 questions will determine if it is worth pursuing BC any further. It is impossible to predict how the college may consider the NCP. Having been through this with two daughters with an NCP I can only tell you that from my experience it is unpredictable but likely that your EFC will be much higher when the NCP is added (although not always).</p>
<p>Did you get a waiver for Villanova for the Noncustodial? It looks like they require that and the IDOC from the custodial and noncustodial.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>While each school may have a different form, the GC can and usually does write the 3rd party letter because they do know the kid’s situation and the many colleges specifically state that they do not want letters from attorneys,clergy, etc.</p>
<p>Why isn’t your dad legally obligated to pay child support? In every state, a noncustodial parent still has a legal obligation to pay support. In some states that ends at 18, in others it ends when the child is deemed emancipated, which could be age 21 or 22 if the child is in college.
Some states also will legally require a noncustodial parent to contribute to college.</p>
<p>^ An NCP generally only has to pay if they make more $ than the other parent. I know of at least one case in which the mom had to pay child support…</p>