Since you are a US Citizen, after turning 18, if you could live with a relative in the US, you could take a GAP year and work full time. Save as much as you can and file for your mother/siblings to migrate from Turkey. It can take as little as 6-months, but more like 1-year. This way you kill two birds with one stone. Establish instate residency (may require your mom to be here for at least 1-year, maybe not) and bring your mother/siblings to the US in the interim. You will need to show proof that you can support your mother/siblings in the process of filing for them (part of that $20K might come in handy in this regard), so you will need to work as soon as you get to the US.
Hopefully, with your mother firmly in the US, she will be able to provide some measure of support for you and your siblings while you attend college in the US.
@jk201820, I am not sure where he lives. Somewhere in Florida, I think. He threatened my mother when they divorced, so that’s how he got away with not paying his agreed-upon $100 in child support.
@Jamrock411, I believe you have to be at least 21 to file for a green card for your parent.
[ol]
[]Come your senior year, apply to the QuestBridge National College Match as soon as possible. If your household income is less than $60,000 per year, you have a very good shot of becoming a Finalist. This allows you special distinction in admissions to universities such as Stanford, University of Chicago, etc.
[]For your FAFSA, whoever is the head of your household/primary income provider is whose information goes onto the FAFSA. I live with my mother and stepfather, and as such I simply put my stepfather’s information (although my biological parents never married).
[li] In terms of the CSS Profile, I think all schools which require it also accept a Non-Custodial Parent PROFILE Waiver Request form. Similar to your situation, my biological father’s presence in my life has been non-existent, and as such I applied to waive any request of his financial information. Schools will either take the generic College Board-provided CSS Non-Custodial Parent PROFILE Waiver Request form (e.g., MIT, Rice, Stanford), whereas others have their own Non-Custodial Parent PROFILE Waiver Request form (e.g., Columbia, Duke). Check with each university to see their specific guidelines.[/li][/ol]
Given the circumstances you’ve provided, I have no doubt the universities to which you apply will waive any requests for your father’s financial information.
I congratulate you on all of the success you’ve gained in spite of your father’s absence, for I have a similar situation. I believe you will go on to do wonderful things at a wonderful university.
Well…you might not want to hear this…but I think Florida might grant you instate residence status because your dad lives there. But you would absolutely need an address for him.
If your dad threatened your mom, that is awful, but would not have prevented child support from being paid. Some non-custodial parents pay through the courts. But what’s done is done.
What kind of threat? A threat not to pay (thats happened) a threat to harm her (thats grounds for possible arrest and/or a restraining order) but it’s not grounds for failure to pay child support. If he was not self employed, he could have had his wages garnished.
Will you be attending the American school next yr? If so, who will be paying your tuition?
It will also help to keep in mind that 98% scores are good, but not NM level for US students abroad which will most likely require a 223. Unfortunately, that eliminates a lot of the large $$ merit scholarships. If your 98% is based on the national representative sample, that would make it around a 1340, or if based on actual PSAT takers, around a 1440. Those are solid scores, but they are not so high as to assume that they are really competitive scores for either elite schools or competitive scholarships. You should try, but don’t assume.
Definitely listen to posters suggesting that you explore other options in addition to applying to 100% meets need schools. $5000 is a very small amt when trying to navigate international travel and establishing yourself in a new country.
@jym626, he threatened to take me away from her if she demanded proper child support. Being a poor woman from an ex-Soviet state, she did not know that he could never take me away (she had full custody). He attempted a similar threat towards me this past summer when he got into contact with me through social media and I mentioned the child support he owed. He’s pathetic, and I want nothing to do with him.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek, yes, I will be attending the same American school for my senior year. On the sole basis of my academic achievements, the school agreed to give me a large discount.
You have younger siblings. If this man is their bio dad as well, they ALSO have a right to child support.
He may be pathetic, and you understandably don’t want anything to do with him, but you (while you are a minor) and your younger siblings are getting shafted here by NOT following a pretty well outlined process for getting his paycheck garnished for the back support he owes you.
The child support is separate from alimony and is separate from custody and from him being a creep. It’s just dollars that he owes you guys. And guess what- the law does not require YOU to go after the money.
If it were me, I’d be figuring out a cost effective way to meet with a lawyer and a social worker to review the financial options- especially for the sake of your younger siblings.
Well now that you and hopefully your mother understand that his threats are empty, perhaps she can contact an attorney to file for back child support and garnish his wages.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek, as of now, my mother and stepfather are not fully divorced, so he still contributes a bit. So, indirectly, it is he who is paying for tuition. For now.
Another issue that might complicate matters may be that for your freshman yr your 2017 income impacts FA. Your sophomore yr is based on 2018. I don’t know how all of that works in terms of stepchildren and divorce not involving biological children, but if they were still married, your stepfather’s income would be included.
Can someone clarify what happens? ( @twoinanddone ??) If the stepdad is paying the American school tuition for sr yr, and they are not yet divorced, does his income go on FAFSA? Would this require a professional judgment on top of the NCP waiver (if that was pursued?)
Way too complicated for me, but hopefully someone else knows.
@blossom, he is not their father. If only he actually respected the law. I doubt he’s ever paid the full amount of taxes he owes. He’s a crook, plain and simple. But I will see. I want to leave the legal avenue as a last resort.
We don’t know that. We don’t know that their mother didn’t waive her right to alimony and child support in order to move the children out of the country. My nephew’s mother did that. She waived child support (it wasn’t very much) so that she could move to another state and change the visitation and custody ordered by the court. She agreed to a visitation schedule that was ‘summer heavy’ and agreed to pay for some of the holiday travel. She actually made more money so it was likely that if she had remained in the same city she might have had to pay the father child support.
But this is a child wondering how to get around contacting the father for CSS or other required financial aid filing documents, not how to restructure the divorce orders. She doesn’t want contact which may limit some of her college options. Yes, @thumper1, I think she would qualify for instate tuition in Florida because that’s the father’s residence, but because Florida puts so much of the state aid in Bright Futures if she doesn’t qualify for that other FA is limited. ‘Getting’ to pay $7k in instate tuition is great if you have the $7k.
This is going to be a very complicated FA filing. The child lives with neither parent. FAFSA says you then use the parent who supplied the most support. Again, a tie at none. Then you use the parent with the higher income. She doesn’t know because she doesn’t know what her father earns.
Wrt non custodial parent: you will need your school principal and/or a clergy member or doctor to certify that you’ve had no contact with your biological father for years, that he’s had no presence in your life, and that no one knows where he is; further, that no one in the family or among relatives has tried to find him due to his issuing threats which the mother didn’t know we’re illegal, so that right now the school wouldn’t provide information about you if he were to suddenly manifest himself and ask for it as he has severed all rights over you. <= Or whatever applies!! This is a maximum case.
Most colleges with a custodial parent waiver form will accept this type of official statement with the form. Some don’t so you better find out right now which ones have the waivers and what sort of documentation you need.
The best solution indeed is for you to try and get the highest possible scores on the SAT (will your school cover the costs?) Then, apply widely. Considering your mother’s income, you’ll get an application fee waiver on common app. It’s going to be a lot of work.
Plan to move to the US as soon as you’ve graduated. Missouri and Utah would consider you instate after a year of work there. They’re the only two stated where you can work, attend college w and after a year be considered a resident.
You can also see if your relatives can take you in and from there you can commute to work.
If you belong to a church or mosque, does it have connections in the US?
That way, if you aren’t admitted to a meet 100% need school through Questbridge or on your own and can’t get sufficient merit aid somewhere, you have solutions that allow to live in the us.
As for sponsoring your mother and sister, you should definitely try to do it if you have a job, as they’d be safe and your sister could attend ba public school, but I’veheard that for parents it takes a long time, like many years, so you would have to start as soon as you think you can.
Can’t your mother stay in Kenya? Turkey is dangerous right now - lots and lots of arbitrary arrests. So many teachers were arrested that back to school had to be delayed by six weeks. Contrary to the Kemal legacy, “revisionist” islamist thinkers are taking over the school system and targeting girls education. It’s not safe for your mom or your sister.
(Granted, Kenya is very unstable too )
So, recap
meet need colleges (especially in the Midwest since they have fewer applicants. Colleges such as Carleton, Macalester, Grinnell, St Olaf, but also Lawrence, Gustavus Adolphus, Beloit…) + Questbridge
merit scholarships - pay attention to the deadlines. AES at UTD, different scholars programs at IU or App State, Montana State, etc.
The marital status for the FAFSA is as of the date of filing. If this mother divorces or is separated from the stepfather the day the FAFSA is filed for the 2019-2020 school year, she would only include HER income from 2017, not the step parent.
It doesn’t matter if they were married in 2017. What matters is if they are divorced or separated the day the FAFSA is filed. If so…only the custodial parent income is listed.
It also sounds like this student would,qualify for instate Florida residency if the bio dad lives in that state. That could save thousands of dollars.
While he doesn’t qualify for Bright Futures, he does qualify for a portion at least of the Pell Grant, and the $5500 Direct Loan freshmen can take.
I can understand the reluctance to be in the same state as this dad…but it’s not a teeny state…and some of the colleges are large. There would be no reason to actually be in contact with the father…but having residency in FL might be a help cost wise.
)