<p>Even though I am pretty sure my ex wont help pay for our child's education, they are going to see that he makes 3 times what I make. After they award an aide package do I go in and notify them that he will not pay? How do I handle all of this?</p>
<p>You can notify the colleges that your ex will not pay, but truthfully, for schools that use non-custodial parent information it won't matter what you say. The schools believe that parentS are responsible for providing financial support for higher education. Just because your ex doesn't WANT to pay does not excuse him from that responsibility. If the school uses his income in their formula, his ability to pay cannot be discounted.</p>
<p>I believe that they view the ex the same way they view parents who are married and refuse to contribute for college- they still expect them to pay!</p>
<p>Thumper is right. Consequently, have your child apply to colleges where it's likely that your child will get merit aid (you have to check each college's web site to find out the criteria for merit aid. Typically students get merit aid from colleges giving merit aid and where the studenets are in the top of the applicant pool, not from their reach or match colleges) and/or colleges that you know are affordable on your income. The latter may mean a local public institution where your student can live at home and commute.</p>
<p>Isn't there a difference between FAFSA-only schools and CSS profile schools in what they expect from non-custodial parent?</p>
<p>Ok, so when I do all the FAFSA stuff, I must list him too? I can not just do my own and be done? He has a part that he must fill out? That is going to go over like a lead balloon. What happens if he fails to fill out his part? Am I once again the one holding the bag? I am a elementary school teacher making 50k a year and my ex makes probably 170K a year. Thank you for your input.</p>
<p>My understanding is that the FAFSA asks for custodial parent (and step parent if they reside with the student) income. The FAFSA also requires that you list any child support that you receive. The Profile (for schools that require it) and some school specific finaid forms require that both parents' incomes be reported. The bottom line is that your child's father is considered to be responsible for some of the expenses of college (especially for schools using the profile or that require both parents to report income). Northstarmom is correct...you should be looking for schools where your child would be either eligible for merit aid, or schools where the tuition and fees (including room and board) are affordable for you.</p>
<p>Actually, the FAFSA only asks for information from the custodial parent.
The Profile, however, asks for the information from the non-custodial parent. Also, some schools which use the FAFSA without the Profile, have their own institutional forms which ask about non-custodial parent info. Mermaidjodi, I surely would check carefully to see that at least some of the colleges on the list just use FAFSA.</p>
<p>Here is a pertinent thread which you might find helpful.</p>
<p>Oops, looks like Thumper already addressed this!!</p>
<p>Most public universities and many of the less selective privates ask for FAFSA only, not CSS profile. The problem is that many of these schools do NOT guarantee to meet 100% need. One top level university that does NOT ask for CSS Profile is NYU... but then NYU is also notoriously bad in terms of financial aid, too.</p>
<p>My suggestion would be to look for colleges that rely on FAFSA only where your daughter would also be on the top of the applicant pool. Many of the colleges that do not guarantee to meet full need actually leverage their need-based aid dollars, giving strong packages to the students they most want to attract. Essentially this is the same as schools that offer merit aid, but the aid is not always labeled that way. The problem with "merit" only aid is that unless the student qualifies for a full tuition scholarship, the aid may be limited to a fixed grant amount: $2000, or $5000, or $10,000. Nothing to sneeze at, but it may not be enough to close the gap when the tuition is in the range of $30,000.</p>
<p>However, you didn't say how much your ex makes -- they will take his expenses/obligations into consideration. If you make $40K a year, and "three times as much" means the ex makes $120K, but he has remarried and has other kids to support.... you may actually be pleasantly suprised to find out how much aid you qualify for even with his income weighed in.</p>
<p>I know of someone (not too closely, so I can't be positive of all the details) who's ex refused to pay, but the divorce agreement had something in it about who pays for what. In this case, the child wanted a private school, and the courts found that the ex was responsible for up to the cost of a public school. I don't remember if she went public, or worked something else out. </p>
<p>My point, though, is that perhaps there's something in the child-support agreement that would hold up in court, defining responsibility?</p>