Basically, my parents are divorced. My dad is abusive. The problem is, he is a lawyer and makes a ton of money. Most of the schools I am interested in are Ivy Leagues, or very expensive non-Ivy Leagues. The CSS normally requires both parents to fill out the form, but you can submit a waiver request. What are my chances of getting my dad’s income excluded? Thanks.
Is you dad providing support to you and your mom? Are you in contact with him?
If so, it is unlikely an NCP waiver request would be approved.
Is the issue your dad won’t pay for college?
And to clarify, you parents are separated, not divorced, and your dad does not live with you?
You would need to demonstrate that your dad is not able to be contacted to complete the non-custodial parent Profile. Waivers are not granted just because a parent earns a lot of money and the student wants that excluded.
There is no way to predict what will happen as these are decided on a case by case basis…with proper documentation.
In the meantime…you need to add some affordable colleges to your application list. No one has to attend a $70,000 a year college. Also, look for schools that do not require the non-custodial parent Profile (that is what your dad would complete). U of Chicago and Vandy both meet full need and don’t require non-custodial parent info.
If your parents are divorced, your dad’s financials should NOT be listed on The FAFSA or the regular Profile form. Only your custodial parent is listed. Where the non-custodial Profile is required, your dad would submit that.
On FAFSA and Profile, any spousal or child support received by your mom is required to be listed.
Sorry, I forgot to mention: he will most likely not pay for college. He has a history of using false promises simply to manipulate people. I’m not trying to get his income excluded just because I want to pay less. He is a terrible person and I need to cut contact with him completely.
So am I just screwed? I didn’t choose to have an abusive parent. I can provide documentation of abuse that has basically ruined my childhood. How can I ever move on? I promise you: he has no intention of paying. Whenever he HAS ever done anything good for me, he just used the opportunity to manipulate and to hurt me more. He has never done anything good just for the sake of doing something good, I promise. I need to cut contact with him as soon as I turn 18, for the sake of my own sanity. Shouldn’t universities be able to be empathetic to this situation?
My parents are divorced and my dad does not live with me. He does provide child support to my mom, but he has repeatedly fought to have it lowered, despite making over 6x more money than her. The issue isn’t just that he won’t pay for college; the issue is that I would like to cut contact with him completely when I turn 18, since he has basically ruined my childhood.
I am sorry you are in this situation.
I think that it will be difficult to get an non-custodial parent waiver (NCP) waiver since your father is partially supporting you.
Are there any legal proceedings that document abuse? Can your GC write about this in their rec letter?
You can certainly try and submit an NCP waiver, but the odds are stacked against you because your dad is in your life and contributing money.
As thumper said, there are two highly selective schools that do not require NCP financials…U Chicago and Vandy. (Vandy does reserve the right to ask for NCP financials though) Are those schools on your list? If not, it might make sense to take a look at them.
You are going to need to have an affordable school, or two or three on your list…FAFSA only schools. And even then, your mom will need to report the support she received from your dad. What is your state flagship school? What can you and your mom pay for school each year?
If you are a competitive applicant for ivies and other selective colleges, you have the potential to get good merit aid elsewhere. So what can your mom pay annually? Is there a college fund for you?
What are your stats and what is your state of residence?
You aren’t “screwed “ but you need to broaden your college search
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You CAN drop him from your life when you turn 18, but that doesn’t mean schools are going to dismiss him as easily. Depending on the state, your father’s obligations for child support may end at 18 or may continue to 21. Your mother may want him to be obligated to continue paying.
It’s a difficult situation but not uncommon. Many students have parents who make a middle class or higher income who won’t or can’t pay for college. Colleges still look to those parents to pay.
I took a look at CollegeBoard’s list of schools that require CSS Profile, but not NCP financials for 20/21. https://profile.collegeboard.org/profile/ppi/participatingInstitutions.aspx
Other selective schools (a step or more down from U Chicago and Vandy but still good/very good schools) that require CSS Profile but don’t require NCP financials are:
William and Mary
College of Wooster
DePauw
Elon
Gettysburg
Lewis and Clark
Oberlin
Providence
RPI
Santa Clara
Stevens Institute of Technology
Do double check this info on each school’s site.
During the divorce, my mom wanted to create a college fund that they would both contribute to, but my dad refused. My dad has screwed her over financially so the answer to your first question is “practically nothing”. I live in Minnesota, but I want to go to college somewhere on the east coast, preferably Boston, New York, or DC. I’m a rising sophomore so I don’t have to make any decisions any time soon. Originally, I was looking at Harvard, Columbia, Georgetown, and a few others. Do you know of any selective universities that do not require his income to be included?
Thank you so much for your help. I’m sorry a few of my prior responses sound whiny, this is just really stressing me out.
If my situation isn’t uncommon, what do people in my situation normally do? Do they just look at cheaper colleges? Or do they just look at colleges that don’t require the NCP’s income?
You need to look at affordable colleges too. Start researching those as well as requirements for merit awards. Look at you
MN unlocked universities.
Right now, you have only freshman high school grades and no standardized test scores. You don’t even know if the competitive schools you listed will be in your range. Many of these schools accept less than 10% of applicants.
Please open your mind to a broader search
As a rising sophomore, I would encourage you and your mom to start saving for college. Is your mom working? Are you?
I gave you a list of schools that require CSS Profile but not NCP financials, but you will need to check that list in two years when you are applying to colleges.
Will U Minn be affordable for you?
Yes, students in your situation have to go to a FAFSA only school, or a Profile school that doesn’t require NCP financials.
Again, I am sorry you are in this situation and can feel your understandable stress. Please make sure you are getting mental health support so that you can learn coping mechanisms to help deal with the issues you have had with your father.
The VAST majority of college students live at home and go to a college within driving distance of home (or establish their own homes and go to college part time, have employers who pay, have served in the military and have tuition paid). The next big chunk of college students go to schools in their home states, most of which require only the FAFSA (non custodial parent’s income not included). Only a small percentage of college students attend elite schools, and yes, about 50% of those students are paying the full cost (or their parents who have saved for college are).
If you spend time on CC reading about all the students going to elite schools, you’ll think everyone goes away to college and lives on campus and gets big FA packages or full ride merit scholarships. That is not reality. Look at your own high school graduating class and where students are heading to college. If it is a high income area, some will be going to elite east coast schools, but most will be going to U of Minn or one of the schools in the state college system. Good schools at a good price.
Oh my. That should say…
Look at your MN public universities!
Hi Phantonex, my son is in the same situation as you, and we also live in MN. I am trying to find the info about this as well. Can’t really help you with info but wanted to send support. You are a good and smart kid and I trust that you will overcome all challenges.
I didn’t realize that your post is one year old. What did you end up doing? My son is in exact same shoes as you were a year ago. His first choice is Northwestern but if they count his non-custodial parent’s (dad’s) income, he won’t qualify for any need-based aid. U of Chicago doesn’t require CSS but it is next to impossible to get in there…
I haven’t figured it out yet, unfortunately. I was a sophomore when I made the post, and am now a junior. What grade is your kid in?
Also, Northwestern is actually one of my top schools as well!
Here is the waiver form for reference: https://cssprofile.collegeboard.org/pdf/css-profile-waiver-request-non-custodial-parent.pdf
Each college makes its own decision. However, what you described suggests that a waiver is unlikely.
They are more empathetic to their own financial aid budgets. Effectively excluding a large percentage of financially needy students (i.e. those with uncooperative divorced parents) reduces the financial aid budget that they need to provision. They are probably also worried about a few people gaming or cheating the system with sham divorces if they only considered the custodial parent finances, even though the number of people in situations like your probably greatly outnumbers those who will do such things.