@DadTwoGirls Thank you so much for the help!
I guess I am currently planning to go to a state school and do my graduate school somewhere else, but I really would have loved to attend Northwestern or a similar school.
I still have a chance at Vanderbilt, Princeton, or Chicago though, as they do not consider the noncustodial parent, but they were not my first choices.
I find it unfortunate that schools claim to meet “100% of demonstrated need” but what they really mean is that they will meet a number generated by a faulty formula.
Do you think I could negotiate financial aid at Northwestern? If I show an award letter from another school (one that does not require noncustodial parent info), could I use that to get financial aid from Northwestern?
If so, do you think that ‘other school’ would need to be another T20 school, or could I leverage an award letter from a less prestigious school like RPI or Trinity University?