CSS Non-custodial profile impact on EFC

NewEnglandMother
Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:36:47 +0000

I agree with the above posters that each college will apply the information from the CSS as they see fit. I also agree with m2ck that they wouldn’t let a non-working spouse get a “free ride” per se - that didn’t apply in my situation. I just found it interesting in my case that 6 schools came up with very similar financial aid awards using the CSS and NC CSS. I am sure there are many factors and I provided the schools with as much info as I could (including what our divorce decree stated regarding tuition costs). I was pleasantly surprised with the aid offered and tend to think they weigh the custodial parents’ income more heavily than the non-custodial just based on my results. I wish there were a calculator for divorced parents but I bet there are so many unique situations that they may not be very accurate expecially since each school ultimately decides for themselves. There is a financial aid calculator on Princeton’s website that considers divorced parents but this would not be representative of very many schools since Princeton’s aid is nortoriously generous. I will run my numbers there and see if it is even close to other awards I have received. Here is the link

[Princeton University | Princeton Financial Aid Estimator](http://www.princeton.edu/admission/financialaid/estimator/)