Vanderbilt FA with divorced parents?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Vanderbilt University
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<p>Ok, so for the past few years I've been told and took for fact that I would never get any financial aid from any school, ever. My mom always told me our EFC was too high (somewhere quite a bit above 60k) and my only chance was merit aid. However, my dad makes much less money than my mom and his personal ability to pay for college is actually much more reasonable (he can pay around 25k).</p>

<p>My question is if I label my father my custodial parent (I see them equally as often, it's not a lie) and say my mom doesn't intend to pay anything more than about 5k (not a lie despite her large income), will Vanderbilt only take into account my dad's finances when making a FA package? This could be my only way of getting aid (and a top 20 education). </p>

<p>Sorry if this was confusing to read, I'll clear things up if you have any questions.</p>

1 Like
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<p>Okay so I took a look at it and if someone could just confirm if I’m right that would be awesome:</p>

<ol>
<li>Vandy uses the FAFSA and CSS to calculate need.</li>
<li>I can just put in my dad’s finances on the FAFSA.</li>
<li>On the CSS Vandy does NOT require a non-custodial parent form, so my mom’s income never hits paper.</li>
</ol>

<p>Then I get a large FA package and don’t have to stress 24/7? I really hope I got this right.</p>

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<p>I think your dad has to be the one claiming you on his tax return to be considered your custodial parent for purposes of vandy financial aid. So that would be something to look into. But the answer to your overall question is a qualified “yes”–unlike most schools of similar caliber vandy tends only to look at the custodial parent’s income which can really benefit students whose parents are divorced.</p>

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<p>I should add: if your custodial parent remarries then Vandy also looks at your step parent’s finances.</p>

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<p>Hmmm
sounds like another marriage penalty. </p>

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<p>@fondmemories‌ Should my dad have claimed me on his taxes this year, or should he do it for next year?</p>

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<p>They will ask for your custodial parents tax return for 2014 which will be filed in 2015. I don’t remember if they ask for any information from 2013. If they do, I’m pretty sure it was just income information.</p>

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<p>I believe jrmama496 is correct: the key will be having your father (and therefore not your mother) claim you as a dependent on his 2014 return.</p>

<p>@bud123 as to the “marriage penalty”–yeah, it’s a double-edged sword. I understand that this policy can seem unfair to intact families–especially when it is used to “hide” income that is really available to fund the student’s college years. On the other hand, Vandy’s approach, which is unusual, means that a kid who’s been raised by a single parent of modest means can receive financial aid despite there being another in-name-only parent with plenty of assets somewhere out there. At virtually all other high-level schools, these kids get shut out of financial aid. It doesn’t matter if this other parent hasn’t seen the kid for 17 years and has never contributed a dime in support. His or her mere existence denies the kid aid. So Vandy’s policy is an imperfect fix to an imperfect system. I’d bet that every year there are some high-achieving students who choose Vandy over its peer institutions because of this policy. And I’d also bet Vandy instituted this policy for that very reason!</p>

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<p>Interesting, do you think Vandy targets this demographic? Why would they be less interested in students from married families?</p>

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<p>I wouldn’t conclude, from fondmemories’ helpful post, that Vandy is “less interested in students from married families.” Vandy’s recognition that students from divorced families might well be unable to attend if their EFC reflected non-custodial parent assets is not the same as preferring these students over students whose parents are married. </p>

<p>It’s a sad fact that, as fondmemories points out, some non-custodial parents provide zero support. I applaud Vanderbilt for being willing to use its finaid assets to benefit their kids. We’re talking about qualified accepted students, all of whom by definition are people Vanderbilt would like to see attend the school.</p>

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<p>Point noted but I would add there are many students from intact families with parents who are not willing to provide support for college or only willing to pay for a state university too. It seems wrong an intact family should pay more than a separated one that has a higher income and more assets (custidial parent or not). I would also argue if FA is used to aid one subset more than another you are preferring that group.
I also applaud Vandy for helping it’s students will FA.</p>

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<p>Hopefully cptofthehouse or one of the other FinAid gurus on here will chime in, but I do not believe that your father has to claim you as his dependent for tax purposes for him to be the custodial parent in terms of FAFSA. The rule is simply that for purposes of FAFSA, the custodial parent is the one with whom you spend more than 50% of your time.</p>

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<p>And
 Isn’t the CssProfile due in November? I believe those questions ask about the year prior. So in other words 2013 tax returns matter. </p>

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<p>For your FAFSA, you have to use the parent you have LIVED with the previous year, not ‘how often you saw’ your dad. If you are under your mom’s roof more nights than your dad’s, then you will be lying on the FAFSA. Which can get you in big trouble. </p>

<p>Also, in an FAQ section of the financial aid website, the question is asked if they require non-custodial parent information. Here is the answer:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>So you have no guarantee that they will not ask for your mom’s information.</p>

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<p>There is no such thing as a marriage “penalty.” Vandy is probably the ONLY top school that allows students with divorced parents to get financial aid without going through treacherous non-custodial parental waivers. What they do look at is “family” income. If your family happens to include happily married parents, then that’s fantastic; your child already possesses the advantages of growing up with a mom and dad and (possibly) 2 incomes. The total income of both parents is counted. If another student’s family only includes a father, then only his income is counted. If their mother is off living her own life and not contributing to her child’s education, why should her information be required? Nobody is paying less by virtue of not having married parents. They’re paying less because their true income is often less than that of married parents. I assure you that these students would much prefer to have 2 loving parents who are more well off than to go through a divorce and seek financial aid to attend school.</p>

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<p>Your (Primary) Custodial Parent is whichever parent you actually live with more, defined by where you sleep overnight. While it is possible that your parents may have worked out an agreement for you to spend an exactly equal number of nights with each of them (perhaps with an odd number of nights spent with neither, such as in a summer camp), the vast majority of children from broken families will have more nights with one parent than with the other. </p>

<p>If your parents are on VERY good terms, and if they are already geographically close enough to each other that you see them “about equally” anyway, perhaps you can get them to agree for you to spend more nights with your father for the year before you start college. Even 183 w/ Dad vs. 182 w/ Mom would be enough to establish Dad as your primary custodial household, if there is no court order saying otherwise (and possibly even if there is).</p>