<p>I don’t think there will be a big deal about who the custodial parent will be. Spending an hour more with one parent will do it. </p>
<p>So your custodial parent’s financial information will be used for the FAFSA. Child support and other payments from the other parent will be included in the FAFSA.</p>
<p>But FAFSA just determines the official EFC which is used fo determine what the LEAST amount you will have to pay is before getting federal money. You get an EFC of $20K, that means you will have to pay at least that before being eligible for federal work study, subsidized Direct loans, Perkisn, Seog, and most of the time a college’s funds as well. Also most schools DO NOT meet need for most students. You have a $20K EFC and the school costs $60K, that means you get Direct loans up to $5500, with $3500 of it subsidized and MAYBE Perkins, SEOG and Work Study. Depends on the school if any of that is even offered and whatever a school pays out of its own fin aid funds can be anything from zero to up to the full need. But I’ve seen kids with a defined need in the $40K range get zippo from their schools. They just suggest the parents take out PLUS or cosign some loans. No real money offered. Unless mom’s income is below $50K and she can qualify for simplified needs, or EFC is around the $5-6K mark, the PELL grant does not enter the picture and the max for that is $5600.</p>
<p>For those schools that tend to meet full need, many of them will require a non custodial parent financial statement, and, yes, your dad’s income and assets will come into play there. Most PROFILE schools do require a NCP financial statement. And if either parent remarries, your stepparents’ financials could be required too, something you might want to let your parents know. </p>
<p>How your NCP’s income would affect the financial aid you receive depends entirely on the amounts involved. If your NCP is “well to do”, it’ can shoot you out of the water in terms of financial aid. Like you can be eligible for nothing other than your federal entitlements at those schools that require that information. My friend’s children could not afford to go to any private schools because their well to do father refused to pay for college, and they could not get any waivers from any of the schools on their lists to exclude his financials. There are a lot of kids caught that way. My friend’s DD commuted to a local college, took out loans, worked part time and graduated in three years. Her first choice school had been a pricey private LAC, Oberlin, actually, and though she was accepted there, they turned down her request for financial aid due to her well to do NCP. The same went for a number of other such schools. Kids are caught between a rock and a hard place when that happens, and have to make plans accordingly. Her brother went to an OOS public that did give him enough merit money that the mom and he were able to swing it with some loans. But in the young lady’s case, she knew she wanted to go to law school and would have to borrow heavily then, so she chose to keep her ug costs down as low as she could. </p>
<p>You can check the PROFILE school list and see which schools do not require NCP. THngs change year to year, though, and schools are getting increasingly tighter in terms of this sort of things. Even those schools that don’t require the official NCP financial may ask for information through their own forms about the NCP’s financial situation. If your father makes enough that you know having him as the custodial parent knocks you out of consideration for financial aid, those schools that require his info as a NCP are are likely to put you in that same situation. </p>
<p>If you are a top candidate at a school, the chances are better, even if the school does not tend to meet full need, that you will get close to it met, so some FAFSA only schools where you fall into the top categories, may be some to add to your list.</p>
<p>As with all students, you should have a school or two on your list that you know will take you and that you will be able to afford, like my friend’s DD ended up attending.</p>