Child Support query

Paying for College
21

The child support orders may have required the NCP to pay the medical bills.

The medical bills may have been forgiven by the hospital. There is no evidence that the relative paid the bills or how much they were. Also, the bills were likely paid, if paid, in 2018, so if the FAFSA is being filed in 2019, those are moot. We don’t know if the bills were in the parent’s name or the child’s (child may have been the age of majority in that country).

Read the questions on the FAFSA carefully. Answer about the year asked (2018 or 2019). If you answer every question that you have no income, no support, you WILL be asked how you are paying living expenses. Sometimes parents of international or ex-pat students have very low living expenses, but I doubt that’s the case in the UK.

It will be very expensive for your son to study in the US, even though he is eligible for federal student loans and aid. Very few schools are ‘meet full need’ schools. Most of those require the additional aid form, the CSS, which requires the NCP to complete a section of the form with all the income and asset info.

The medical needs should not be excused as ‘we’ll just pay them.’ It’s a major expense.

22

As @blossom says, it would likely not be difficult to locate him. Depending on the state’s laws for residency of a Child of divorced parents and the availability of generous merit money st that state’s public universities, it could be worth your while

Though flagship, UTAustin, is difficult for entry, the other UTs are not. Also TAMU. With his stats, merit money is certainly a possibility at UTDallas, SMU

Vanderbilt does not ask for NCP info. Alabama has very generous merit awards for high stats though how they will convert his grades, I have no idea.

Full ride is very difficult to get from FAFSA only schools even with a zero EFC. . You can file for a Waiver for Non Custodial parent info for PROFILE, just google it. It has to be filed with each school and it will be up to that financial aid officer if it’s approved.

23

OP- your son should spend some time on the websites of various US colleges before you guys get ahead of yourselves. Chicago’s core is somewhat unique (there are a few like it). BUT virtually any other US university is going to have distribution requirements, foundational courses, etc. before a kid gets to do advanced work in his or her major.

This is a fundamental difference between university in the US and the UK. There are very few colleges where your son could ONLY study the discipline he’s majoring in. At MIT students need to take writing and humanities/social sciences, for example. There are lots of options- but even a math prodigy can’t just study math at MIT- there are core requirements in the various sciences, and humanities requirements.

If your son doesn’t like this- the US is not for him most likely. And the issues of the NCP, affordability, etc. become irrelevant.

24

There is no college that I know of that will allow your student to enroll without either college purchased health insurance or parent purchased for the kid that covers him in the state where his college is located.

Did I miss your kid’s SAT or ACT score and GPA? Without that info, college options are just guessing.

ETA. Your kid has a chronic illness that requires medical care. I’m trying to understanding why you would send him more than several thousand miles away from you.

And again I ask…he will be 21 when he graduates from high school. Why?

25

@twoinanddone

How would this parent be able to file a U.S. tax form. The parent is not a U.S. citizen, is living in the UK, and earned no income in the U.S.

26

In the OP, he said he was an ex-pat, so I assumed he was a US citizen. Later he said he wasn’t a citizen.

27

I apologize by the unintentional misrepresentation, by ‘we’ I meant my kid. I’m a non citizen of both US, UK so I collectively used the term ‘expats’.

@thumper1 , kid’s going to be 20, not 21. We had lots of broad category issues that he couldn’t be regular at school, would not prefer to get too personal here. As I just mentioned before, his SAT scores are between 1500-1580, I’m not too sure. He takes A levels and his grade is A so far. He’s planning to take another SAT and/or SAT subject on the next test dates. It is never a parent’s intention to get distanced from their kids but he is adamant that he wants to go back to US and pursue ug there. He’s not spoilt either, he also has ears saved for my rants on nearby colleges, he just wishes for there.

Omg, I just checked his meds prices in US, it turns out they’re gonna cost him around $1200-$1500per month. In the UK, we get them for as little as $30 per month. That’s just crazy.

I think I’m going to have a long discussion with my kid today about the costs in US. Until then if you guys could input few college names where it’d be the cheapest in all possible scenarios, I’d really appreciate that.

28

If you haven’t already become familiar with Net Price Calculators, available on each school’s website, you should do that now. Then you can run all the “possible scenarios” that you want, using relevant data that only you have.

29

If he goes to college in the UK he can come back to the US after he graduates. He doesn’t have to come now.

30

I’m not sure the net price calculators are going to yield accurate results. The parents are divorced…and the custodial parent is not in the US working…so income inputs and the calculations (which assume US taxes and the like) won’t be accurate.

@The55Guy would you be willing to share a ballpark of your annual income…and what you think you can reasonably afford to pay annually?

In addition to college costs, I think you need to carefully factor in health care. The college plan might not be enough to cover a chronic illness, and the medications needed to manage it. In addition, most college plans have an annual premium PLUS a deductible. The deductible must be paid annually before benefits kick in. You need to check this very carefully. We don’t have free health care for all in the U.S.

With regard to college options…it’s very hard to give decent info with estimates of grade point average and SAT scores. Find out the exact scores. Keep in mind also that some of the competitive colleges that meet full need for all require SAT 2 tests as well.

There are costs to apply…and costs to send the standardized test scores…and costs to send the CSS Profile if schools require that. Factor in those costs as well.

In addition, consider travel costs. Some schools will include transportation in their cost of attendance, but it usually isn’t sufficient for international travel…and probably not for more than a trip home at Christmas, and another for the summer…partially on your dime.

Before you get too deep in the weeds, I think you need to figure out your budget. This will be a hard discussion to have with your son, but he needs to understand that your wallet isn’t a bottomless pit of money. You say upstream that you can’t pay, right? Does this mean you don’t have income, sufficient income…or do you have other financial obligations that need to be considered as well as college costs?

ETA…even if your son’s FAFSA EFC (expected family contribution) is $0, all that would guarantee your son is $6095 in Pell Grant Money and a $5500 Direct Loan for freshman year. That $11595 will not pay the costs of tuition, fees, room, board, and personal expenses at any college in this country (you are out of state for publics…and your kid can’t commute from home).

I’m not meaning to be harsh…but those are the financial realities. Your son would need some very significant financial aid from the colleges to be able to afford to attend a residential college here.

31

Good points. If NPCs likely won’t be accurate with OP entering the best data available, there’s no way that anyone else here can reasonably suggest colleges that might be “cheapest in all possible scenarios,” as OP has asked.

32

Right…but with better stats info…merit aid possibilities could be given.

And knowing what the parent can pay annually would help too. For example…if this student got a full tuition award someplace…that would still leave room, board and personal expenses including transportation. Can the parent pay those costs?

33

Do we really think that CPs and students are reporting as “taxable income to the student” when their NCP pays their orthodontist bill or pays their soccer club fees? Really? I think that’s ridiculous. And during all of my years here, Ive never seen anyone say that after their NCP bought their child a car, they listed that cost on FAFSA as “income to the student”. Where are all these people who are putting down the cost of an NCP’s payment of their child’s vacation or plane ticket for visitation? I’ve never seen them here; they must be unicorns.

And if the grands regularly pick up their GK’s Rx from the pharmacy and pays $25 for it each time, I highly doubt anyone is listing that as student’s income on FAFSA. What next? Are people here going to claim that if the Grands take the student out regularly for McDonalds or a trip to WDW, the parent/student need to total that up and list it as student income? Not happening.

34

I don’t think medical bills for an under 18 year old are in “their name”. When my kids had medical bills at that age, we parents were the responsible payees…because the kids could not be.

Plus, the kid and custodial parent live in the UK. How much of those medical expenses were paid out of pocket by anyone?

35

Hey guys, I just had a long yet understanding discussion with my kid and alas, we’re going to call off this plan of ug there. I tried my best arranging funds for every single expense except tuition & R&B, which is still in thousands. But I initially didn’t know the healthcare system in US, so when I researched a bit deeper, my kid’s meds & other health expenses could be anywhere between $1700-$2000 per month out of pocket, so it’s going to be another $24,000 per year roughly not to talk about any unfortunate hospitalization. Healthcare is just too expensive in the US, crazy! Kid said that he’d rather go there for masters with no debt than being in US with loads of debts. so we’re looking for European colleges now. I apologize for not researching well ahead about these issues before creating this thread and troubling you guys unnecessarily. Thank you to everyone who broadened my knowledge about these things here. We do have few college options in Europe and Asia, since I’m Asian. Health expenses are much, much cheaper on this side of the earth.