I am the mom and I am very helpful including financially. His bio dad is on 5th marriage and will not give him a dime and his stepdad has 3 children of his own with college debt and will not give him a dime. Counting their income on the Profile is killing Mike’s chance for grants from schools. Is there any work around you know of?
Look at schools that give merit aid.
In some states divorced parents are legally obligated to contribute to child’s college costs.
I’m sorry about the situation. It is a major issue for any child who has parents able to contribute according to the financial aid calculators, but can’t or won’t. For children of divorced family and steps, it can be even more onerous, because though they have more sources of income to tap with all the parties of interest in the picture, that means even more people whose financials are on the line before financial aid is given, that may refuse or cannot pay the formula amounts.
What your son needs to do, in order to have some affordable options is look for those schools nearby to which he can commute, Also look on the “stickies” for low cost schools and those that good merit possibilities. Do have him talk to his GC, and so should you, about what schools s/he knows that are good to kids graduating with his test scores and gpa, from that high school that have traditionally been generous. Also colleges to which commuting is possible, especially the state schools, including community colleges should be on the list.
Unfortunately, you are late in the process to be culling through the full list of schools with possibilities in that some of them have deadlines that have expired. If you find some good possibilities in that area,(such as Alabama and possibly Temple), then your son might want to take a gap year and work to save some money for college,as can you, possibly.
College can be funded from past (savings), current (scrimping and budgeting), and future (borrowing) income from both the student and parents. We’ve been on some austerity regiments to pay for our kids’ educations for years, which is yes, tiresome and painful. Yes, I’m spoiled as our financials are such that we are not hurting to pay, but balancing how well we want to live NOW and save for our own retirement, with education costs for our children, has been a juggling act. Also our children have worked summers when they could and saved any birthday, gift, allowances over the years so that they had a nest egg to put to college costs, giving them some say and ownership on choices. They also worked after first semester throughout college as the one in school is now doing.
Thank you for your responses. My son is a junior. I should have mentioned that. We are starting his search now so we have time to search well for a school and do so well informed. He is a 4.0 and is aiming high for a college experience that that will reward him for his academic work. His 24 year old half brother had absolutely no help from their dad and has had to spend the last six years putting himself one or two classes at a time through community college. Finally this year he will be 24 and no longer will have to report his dad’s income. He will finally be able to get financial aid. I don’t want this to happen to this son too.
What’s his PSAT score?
Start by reading the threads in the link above. Lots of good information there.
Re: aid who does this student live with? If you and step dad…your child will need to use your husband’s income along with yours when completing the FAFSA…and the Profile. No way around that one. You are married, and the kiddo loves with you.
If it’s his dad, he will be required to use his dad’s and current stepmom’s info.
Which is it?
And for Profile schools…many will want all four.
What are this student’s PSAT score…to go with his 4.0 GPA (is that weighted or unweighted?). What colleges are you considering? What state do you live iin?
But most important…how much CAN you pay annually for this student to go to college?
And I would suggest not using your students name in any post. Just my opinion.
ETA…ANY college will “reward” this student for his hard work. It doesn’t have to be in the top USNews 20 to do so. And it doesn’t need to be a $60,000 a year college that your family cannot afford.
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My son is a 4.0 and is aiming high for a college experience that that will reward him for his academic work.
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there are many schools that “will reward him for his academic work”.
I hope that he doesn’t wrongly think that only tippy top schools that only give or mostly only give need based aid would do so.
That would be the FIRST thing to make sure he understands.
There is no “workaround” step dad’s and bio dad’s situation. All schools will use step dad’s info when you file FAFSA unless you decide to leave him…(just kidding). The reason is this…you do not pay all the bills in your household. Your income is not the only one paying for rent/mortgage, electric bill, food, etc. So, only using your info would wrongly indicate how much of your income is going towards household expenses.
You have indicated that you will help pay for college. Yay! But, as you know…if you were the ONLY one paying for ALL of your household expenses, you’d be less able to pay much. Right? See, that’s how your husband’s income is HELPING YOU pay for your child’s college costs. That is kind of how FA looks at things.
The CSSProfile schools that give the best aid will also ask for bio dad’s info.
The solution is this:
YOU need to determine how much YOU can contribute towards your child’s college. IF you can contribute $10k per year, and your child takes a $5500 student loan…THEN he would need a FULL tuition scholarship from his school…so that the family contribution can pay for room, board, and books.
If you can pay more, then his scholarship needs will be less. If you can only pay a smaller amount, then he’ll need LARGER merit.
What is his PSAT? When will he be taking the ACT/SAT?
BTW…there are many top students out there…super GPAs, high SAT/ACT scores. Achieving such is not a rational that they “deserve” a top school…if such is not affordable. Many such kids are academically challenged and have a full college experience at a good school with large merit scholarship awards.
How much can you pay each year? That is the one of the starting points.
Since you already know that schools that are known for need-based aid won’t work for your situation, then the strategy is this:
- determine how much YOU can contribute each year
- determine whether your son will borrow $5500 for frosh year (and later years)
- determine if your son will work/save over summers and use that money (about $1500-2000) towards books and other dorm needs.
- determine if your son will have a part-time job DURING the school year to earn “pocket money”. I would suggest not having him work the first semester as he gets adjusted to school. After that, working 8 hours a week provides money for day to day expenses.
- depending on his major and career goals (what are those?), identify about 10 - 12 schools that has his major…
1-3 schools that can be tippy top schools that might give him merit or might give a super aid pkg
3-4 schools that have competitive BIG merit where remaining costs are affordable.
3-4 schools that will give your child ASSURED HUGE MERIT for his stats.
oh…and if your son balks at applying to some schools that will give him HUGE MERIT, then insist on a couple of “Parent Picks” that he must apply to (since you’re paying app fees, etc, you can insist on this). Parent Picks sometimes “saves the day” when “student picks” prove unaffordable.
But to answer your question directly…the ONLY way this student can exclude his step dad from the process is to wait uneil he is 24 and parent financials are not on the FAFSA.
BUT wait…if he is an undergrad at those Profile schools, they might still expect parent data.
Thanks for all your responses. I think I have gained a lot of good information and am better prepared to guide him through the college selection journey.
I haven’t seen the questioned answered–does he have a PSAT score that could get him to national merit semi status? This opens a lot of doors.
Look for merit aids. Unfortunately, parent’s willingness to pay or not is not a consideration for financial aid.