<p>It is you who have been rude. Please consider the possibility that you do not know everything at the age of 18.</p>
<p>You are deluding yourself that you can force your father to do anything, especially something that will cost him money and possibly prosecution. </p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>
<p>I have not been rude. I have presented concerns that you should be aware of.</p>
<p>I know that you think that “hundreds of thousands of dollars in aid” will be jeopardized, so you’ll “make sure” your dad files his taxes. You may be in for a surprise IF your dad refuses IF doing so means that he’s now alerting the feds and state that he owes THEM a lot of money. At that point, you couldn’t “make” him file his taxes unless you put a gun to his head (lol…obviously I’m not suggesting THAT.)</p>
<p>Do you understand that your dad is NOT likely going to alert the feds and state that he owes THEM a lot of taxes JUST so you can get FA. He’s probably alreadly annoyed that a huge chunk of his income is going towards back child support (which he rightfully owes)…imagine how annoyed he be if the feds and state ALSO garnish his wages for back taxes? </p>
<p>You may think it’s rude to warn you of these possible scenarios…oh well. Good luck!</p>
<p>Thank you Iron Maiden for your kind words.</p>
<p>You really think I haven’t considered that?
Why do you think I’m a little stressed out about this?
I’m not going to do these things blindly. I’m going to talk to both my parents and a friend who files taxes for advice on this situation. Hopefully I can find out if my dad will owe money, and if so what kind of fees he will face. </p>
<p>A feasible plan would be to run his information through H&R Block to determine if he is eligible for a refund. If so, he can file and will face no penalties. The IRS only charges penalties if you owe money (at least that is what their website seems to say). There’s a possibility of hope in this situation – that’s why I want to see what my options are before giving up on all of those schools that require the NCP. </p>
<p>The way that you responded in your posts came off as rude to me at first, but after rereading them I realize you were just trying to help and we were on different pages. I’m just stressed out about this situation because I stupidly didn’t realize that most schools would require my dad’s financial information. I’m just hoping he can file and avoid fees because he was due a refund, and that this problem will be solved. </p>
<p>Thank you for your help, and I apologize for this madness.</p>
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<p>The colleges will not care one bit about your dad’s level of responsibility. The fact is…if he is required to file taxes and has not done so, this WILL affect your ability to get aid in some places. In addition. many colleges requiring the CSS Profile will ask for parent tax returns. If your dad is required to FILE taxes, he will be required to SUBMIT those tax forms to the colleges that request them.</p>
<p>Your dad needs to get his tax house in order…ASAP. This WILL affect you at schools requiring his information.</p>
<p>You can apply to some FAFSA only schools…schools that do NOT require non-custodial parent information at all. Check to make sure they don’t require the non-custodial parent info via a school generated form.</p>
<p>I will chime in to address the OP’s concerns. It is apparent that there are some posts that might bother me, so I will skip those and focus on providing some answers … they may have been provided already, but I will keep any rhetoric out of my answers. Plus, OP can rest assured that I am an “expert.” I worked as a financial aid officer until recently. If your father did not file taxes but should have, schools are not allowed to give financial aid (including government loans) until he files and they are given proof from the IRS that he has filed (tax transcript). Any school that requires the NCP will also require tax returns … meaning that even if you are not selected for verification, tax info will be required and reviewed, as that is the policy for every Profile school I know of (and also of a number of FAFSA-only schools, although that won’t apply to OP if the dad is NCP). If you apply to schools that do not require your dad’s info, you won’t have to worry about it. Otherwise, he will have to file. Please understand that you may not be able to “make” your dad file. If that is the case, you will be SOL as far as any school that requires his info is concerned. I am not saying this for any other reason than to just tell it like it is.</p>
<p>*A feasible plan would be to run his information through H&R Block to determine if he is eligible for a refund. If so, he can file and will face no penalties. The IRS only charges penalties if you owe money (at least that is what their website seems to say). There’s a possibility of hope in this situation – that’s why I want to see what my options are before giving up on all of those schools that require the NCP. *</p>
<p>If he doesn’t owe any taxes to either the feds or the state (BOTH), then he won’t face penalties.</p>
<p>However, prepare for this possibility… Since your dad’s pay is being garnished for back-child-support and he doesn’t earn a lot of money, it’s likely that your dad has been declaring a high number of exemptions at his work so that his take home check is increased (to make up for the loss from garnishment). </p>
<p>You say that your dad earns $27k after taxes ( I think you’ve said that you’ve seen his pay). If his wages are being garnished $800 a month, then he’s losing about $9600 a year from that. For him to pay for his expenses, it would suggest (to me) that he may have indicated a high number of exemptions so that he gets little withheld (except for FICA, etc). That may be why he hasn’t filed taxes. He’s figured out that he would owe. Otherwise, it doesn’t make much sense not to file…his taxes wouldn’t be complicated if everything were on the “up and up”. However, this is just a possible scenario based on what I’ve seen others do in similar situations.</p>
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<p>The above is from the Case Western Reserve website. Apparently CWRU is starting to use the CSS Profile for the upcoming academic year. Are you sure they are not going to require the non-custodial parent Profile?</p>
<p>@kelsmom: Thank you for laying it out for me. I will read this post to my dad. Hopefully he’ll understand. </p>
<p>@mom2collegekids: I’m not sure about the exemptions, but I can ask him. Although I don’t think that would be why he hasn’t filed taxes, because that doesn’t explain the other 8 years of not filing. I really think he just didn’t want to mess with it. My dad doesn’t make the smartest decisions. As a result of the garnishment he had his truck repossessed and luckily he is friends with his landlord, who I believe reduced his rent. Trivial, I know, but I would just guess that he didn’t get any exemptions at work. </p>
<p>@thumper: From what I can gain from their website, Case will require the CSS Profile but will not require the non-custodial parent profile. I will make sure to ask when I visit in August.</p>
<p>OP, I’m curious as to which state and federal grants you will be relying upon to cover your room, board, fees, books, etc. The maximum Pell grant is only $5500, which is only if your efc is zero. I am going to wager a guess that your mom makes more than your dad, because in your first post you said they both make under $40,000, and later you said your dad is at about $27,000, so that would lead me to believe your mom is nearer to $40,000. In that case, your Pell grant might be far, far less—or even non-existant. (Case in point—I thought my daughter would qualify for a very, very tiny Pell this year based on last year’s figures. Guess what? They changed the income guidelines, and she just missed it because my income, which would have qualified last year, is now over the elibility criteria.) At any rate, $5500 does not cover room and board at the majority of four year schools that I’m aware of.</p>
<p>Also, while I am not familiar with the state grants in your state, keep in mind that they can be changed at any time. Another example from my own experience: My state had been giving grants for years. Large ones if you stayed in state, and small ones with a few reciprocal states, even for private colleges. Midway through the summer, we got an email that the legislature had killed the grants for the upcoming year—and more than likely, for ever after. The Robert C. Byrd federal scholarship was another one my dd would have received, but that went poof, too.</p>
<p>Honestly, no one here is attacking you or being rude. They are just being realistic. I have learned so incredibly much from reading the posts of several of the people who are giving you info. As I said in my prior post, some of this stuff stinks, but better to learn about it now and be prepared than to be shocked and up the creek without a paddle later.</p>
<p>Have a talk NOW with your dad so you will know what to expect from him. And please come back in April and let us know how you made out and what school you will be attending.</p>
<p>ctinct, you’re right that grants are liable to change. let me use information from Purdue’s net price calculator because it breaks the awards down by grant. </p>
<p>Net Price Summary</p>
<p>Cost of Attendance$22,748.00
Total Estimated Scholarship and Grant Aid-$19,607.00
Estimated Net Price $3,141.00</p>
<p>Estimated Cost of Attendance
Resident Tuition$9,478.00
Room and Board$9,510.00
Books and Supplies$1,330.00
Resident Travel Expenses$250.00
Miscellaneous Personal Expenses$2,180.00</p>
<p>Total Cost$22,748.00</p>
<p>Need Calculation
Cost of Attendance$22,748.00
Expected Family Contribution (EFC)-$641.00</p>
<p>Total Need $22,107.00</p>
<p>Estimated Award Eligibility</p>
<p>Federal Pell Grant$4,900.00
Indiana Higher Education Award (With Academic Honors Supplement)$3,271.00
Indiana Twenty-First Century Scholar Award$5,803.00
Federal SEOG Grant$400.00
Purdue Access & Success Incentive Grant$500.00
Federal Work Study $2,500.00
Purdue Promise Grant Funding$4,733.00
Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan$641.00
Total Awards$22,748.00</p>
<p>So I guess it wouldn’t necessarily be free, but $641 for college really isn’t bad. The Twenty-First Century Scholar Award is the grant I was referring to earlier. Purdue then provides their own “Purdue Promise” grant to those scholars as long as they stay in good academic standing and attend special seminars. Luckily the Scholar Award is guaranteed for 4 years. If any changes are made to the grant, they affect those people who have not signed up for the program. The Indiana Higher Education grant is another funded by the state, and an increase is given for graduating with an Academic Honors diploma, the only one my school offers. </p>
<p>If the guidelines don’t change too much, I can easily afford to attend Purdue. IU’s numbers are very similar to this but they do not break down the awards by grant.</p>
<p>But yes, I will talking to my dad on the phone tonight. Hopefully I can get this worked out.</p>
<p>I just wanted to wish you good luck. As a divorced Mom with 2 daughters who have gone through this I have much sympathy! One thing I found with the NCP - a number of schools that require the NCP Profile for the initial financial aid package do not require it in future years (soph - senior). So this is something I would ask of the schools you plan to apply to.
Also a number of schools that do NOT require the Profile NCP do require their own forms. These can usually be found at each schools FA website. Lastly there are some schools that don’t typically require NCP info but may blindside you late in the process with a request for NCP info (W&M and Vanderbilt are 2 that sometimes do this).
Ask a lot of questions when you visit. I hope your Dad helps you out.</p>
<p>I just got done talking to my dad for three hours. </p>
<p>It was pretty informative, but he assured me multiple times that he would make sure he files his taxes so that I can use them for school. @NewEnglandMom - I saw that on Northwestern’s website they only required the NCP for first year students. Hopefully there are more like that! </p>
<p>The only thing I can do now is to keep on my dad about filing and make sure he does. I feel so much more at ease. Thanks everyone for your advice.</p>
<p>Please understand that a few key words can trip us all up- starting with “estimated” and “eligibility.” The colleges, their administrations and lawyers are careful to qualify their words, make nothing that can be viewed as a firm promise or lead to liability. You want to read any fine print, over and over, to ensure there are no surprise limits or conditions in the major grants. Eg, no max that they will give out annually (grand total to all recipients) or similar conditions that could unexpectedly reduce your personal grant.</p>
<p>Kelsmom didn’t address this, but isn’t there soemthing called a NCP waiver?</p>
<p>There are non custodial waivers…but it isn’t likely this student would qualify for one. She knows where her father is, she speaks to him, and he is paying child support. NCP waivers are given when the NCP is totally out of the picture and the student has no way of contacting the NCP. That is not the case with the OP.</p>
<p>OP…it sounds like you have some of the information you need to move forward. You already have some affordable options. Good luck with your college search…and do let us know how it all turns out.</p>
<p>There is such a thing as an NCP waiver, but from what I have read on CC it is usually for students who have no contact with that parent. As the OP’s parent pays child support, it is likely he/she would not be eligible for the NCP waiver. (I think this was discussed earlier in the thread, but that may have been in a different thread)</p>
<p>Yes, it seems waivers are only given to those who have no contact with their parent because they have no idea where they are and can get letters of confirmation from people in the clergy or from government officials/teachers.</p>
<p>Update on situation:</p>
<p>For anyone who ends up reading this post, I just wanted to let share how things worked out. I ended up applying to my schools through the Questbridge program, which offers low income students full scholarships at top-ranked universities. By applying through QB I was able to fully explain my financial situation to the schools I applied to (Stanford, Northwestern, Yale) which made it significantly easier to navigate the financial aid process. I ended up not being selected for the full ride scholarship at any schools but Northwestern offered me “guaranteed” admittance through ED with a VERY generous financial aid package. With some other local scholarships I’ve only had to borrow about ~3k a year which is worth it to me because I’ve enjoyed every minute of my time here. </p>
<p>I was able to receive a financial aid package by submitting my mom’s returns and just my dad’s W-2. When Northwestern asked for tax transcripts to verify the information, all I had to submit were my mom’s and the FA office still processed my request. Northwestern also doesn’t require NCP information after the first year, so I no longer have to worry about this situation at all. For anyone who might be in a similar situation, I strongly suggest you contact any school you are considering and explain your circumstances & ask them about all their policies so you’re not screwed over. Most schools are willing to help, especially ones that partner with Questbridge. I would also recommend that you look into Questbridge if you have strong stats and come from a low-income or underprivileged background. If you make it to semi-finalist, you’re almost guaranteed an ED offer at one of your schools with a good financial aid package. </p>
<p>It can really suck trying to apply to elite schools with divorced parents, but it is possible! Just use your resources and your background to make your application stand out and great things can happen. </p>
<p>Thank you for the update!</p>