| A non-custodial parent waiver form is the next best thing. It's not impossible to get one -- I got one from every single one of the nine schools I applied to, and they all acknowledged it.
My circumstances are pretty similar to yours. Like you, I haven't seen my father for many, many years, but he is disabled and on unemployment from the government. This may have made it easier for me to get the waiver since he has no income and the government pays my mom the child support, not him. I have no clue to his whereabouts or home address, and neither does my mom. I'm not even legally allowed to be alone with him without someone else there, so really, the schools I applied to would make themselves look awful if they made me track him down and confront him.
Every school will have different requirements as to how to get the waiver, so call and ask FinAid. All of the schools asked for a letter from a counselor, lawyer, or clergyman that summarized and verified the circumstances. Some asked for the first few pages of last 3 years' tax returns in addition to that. Everyone I spoke to was very cooperative, there were no roadblocks, and it was a very easy process. |