<p>Does having only one parent make a difference in college admissions?</p>
<p>Not really, it's pretty common.</p>
<p>It makes a difference in financial aid, though.</p>
<p>Not necessarily. At the Ivies, elite Lacs and schools that give large amounts of their own institutional aid, these schools require in addition to the FAFSA, the CSS profile, which looks at the income and the assets of not only your custodial parent, but your non-custodial parent as well. Many schools will also look at the income and assets of your step parents to the extent which your parent has "benefitted" from the marriage.</p>
<p>It doesn't matter at all. All that matters to colleges is the bottom line - how much is that one parent's income. I know, because as a single mother it did not matter one iota that I had no additional support when my daughter applied last year for financial aid. All they cared about was that my income was high enough to not qualify for financial aid.
As far as having only one parent - there are no sympathies there. I guess because they hear it all the time.</p>
<p>I don't think it matters at all for admission. My D got generous FA with me being a single parent at a private LAC. However I have been open and cooperative about sending additional supporting info like previous years tax forms, anything they requestd, even a letter from my employer. It's especially hard for them to believe that there is NO other potential income and that there hasn't been any previously, the CSS especially requires an extra letter of explanation.</p>