CSS Non-custodial profile impact on EFC

mom2collegekids
Sun, 06 Mar 2011 15:52:26 +0000

*What difference does it make if the parents are divorced or not when the Profile asks for information. They are STILL the kiddo’s parents. The schools that use NCP information rightfully expect that BOTH PARENTS regardless of marital status will support their children. I don’t see any difference here between married parents who have different incomes. Should I receive a bill and my husband a separate one from the university for our “shares” of the family contribution? I don’t think so!! And I don’t think divorced or separated parents should either. *

there are several reasons why a divorced situation is much different from a still-married situation. When married parents have a child in college and there are college bills, the jointly married parents are expected to pay out of joint funds. And, married parents know how much each earns and has in assets, so married parents know what’s been submitted to CSS. It would make no sense to split the bill for married folks…(a waitress doesn’t split the bill for a married couple who goes out to eat. LOL)

When parents are divorced, it’s a whole different ballgame. First of all, each “family” doesn’t know the assets/income of the other family. So, if only one big “family contribution” is given, it can be hard to decide a fair way to split the amount without directly being req’d to reveal private info. It’s often not fair to simply split the bill 50/50…yet that is what sometimes happens.

Since the school is the only one who sees each family’s income/assets/situation , it would make sense for the school to be able to say…Family A’s contribution should be $15k, and Family B’s contribution should be $10k.

However, if you prefer, then ok…every parent gets a bill …whether divorced or still married. The computer formula could compute such a number if needed.