<p>Miw, you should keep it short and focus it on how little contact or support you have had with your father. If he was/is paying child support, frankly, the chances are very small that you will get the waiver. The school may come up with specific questions, If you haven’t seen or heard from him through high school, and got not a dime, that is ideal. </p>
<p>What your father did or did not pay for your sibling’s college education is irrelevant. The focus of your (brief) statement should be his lack of involvement in YOUR life over the past several years. If you don’t ever see him, why not? If he doesn’t pay support, why not? And so on.</p>
<p>And I wish people would stop trying to predict whether this student will or will not be granted a waiver. First, you do not know the specific details of this student’s family life. And, second, eligibility for waivers varies from one school to another - just because College A might deny the waiver does not mean that College B will do the same thing! Offer advice . . . not speculation.</p>
<p>I submitted waiver requested to 9 different schools and they all focused on pretty much the same things and all wanted a third party letter not a lawyer and not a counselor. So in my case I saw very little difference from school to school. </p>
<p>Tiger, who did you get to write your waiver statement? Usually, it’s the school counselor who writes them, and often what they state is that the NCP has shown neither hide nor hair at the school, no reports or records to be sent to them, zilch, unless there is specific info known. I’m talking about NCP cases, where that parent just has little or nothing to do with the kid. </p>
<p>My friend DD filed about a dozen of them. This was years ago, so it has little bearing on how things might be done today, but they did ask her specific questions. That he did see the kids on occasion and that he had paid for some things for them were things that were specifically asked. Her DD got zilch in financial aid from those school as her waivers were all denied, though she did get into half of them. That he refused to pay for college, and had not paid much at all in support and that the two parents were still hashing it out in court were not issues. </p>
<p>But there have been posters who did get the waivers. Certainly won’t happen without applying for them.</p>
<p>A family therapist we had been seeing for 4 years. It asked that the letter be on her stationary. The concern with a high school counselor was they were not completely impartial. I don’t agree with that but in my case it was easy because the therapist was there through the court issues and the abandonment. </p>
<p>I ask, because you say 9 schools and they all did not want the school counselor, or was it just easier to use the therapist that was writing one for the college that did not want the school counselor since one was being done anyways? Usually, it’s the school counselor that fills these out. It’s an established part of their jobs at our high schools. For the full need met schools, from what I’ve been told, it’s not an easy get, but it’s not because of that impartial statement from school counslor that is the issue, most of the time. </p>