<p>"They’re legally separated, not divorced, if it makes a difference. (I may have said they’re divorced because my living situation is the same as it would be if they were divorced.) I included my father’s income and assets because I’ve read that colleges consider the non-custodial parents’ stuff when calculating aid. "</p>
<p>Go to the Financial Aid Forum and read up on this issue. kelsmom will be able to tell you how the FAFSA treats legal separations. You may only need your mom’s figures for that.</p>
<p>Places that use the CSS Profile in addition to the FAFSA can ask for the non-custodial information, so you do need to pay attention then.</p>
<p>What are some LACs that let you cross-register with a university (like Wellesley and MIT)? Is that difficult to do?</p>
<p>Someone who recruited at universities once said to me that of you are at the top at Penn State, you are at the top. I would think that would be true of Ohio State as well. You might be surprised by how many super smart kids go to their state flagships. Often very bright kids are from upper middle class families who make too much money for aid and they make the decision to go to the lower priced schools.</p>
<p>Many, many bright kids opt to follow the more practical route because they have siblings or they want their parents to have retirement savings.</p>
<p>Off the top of my head:
Bryn Mawr/Haverford/Swarthmore/Penn
Mount Holyoke/Smith/Amherst/UMass-Amherst
Agnes Scott*/Emory/Georgia Tech/Georgia State/Spelman/U of Georgia</p>
<p>Rules for cross registration vary. The two main obstactles are calendars (when school starts, stops for break, resumes, etc) and, #1, distance/access.
*you’d most definitively get good merit aid there but the math offerings would definitively need to be supplemented by math offerings elsewhere</p>