Think about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s recent situation. He had ‘no contact’ with his love child (didn’t acknowledge him) for most of the child’s life, but now that he is recognized, of course he will be expected to pay for college or at least the state won’t be expected to pay with financial aid.
This actually happens fairly regularly with absentee parents when the custodial parent applies for state/federal services like food stamps or TANF. The custodial parent fills out the form with the info for the biological missing parent, and the state seeks reimbursement for the aid. It doesn’t matter that it has been 10 or 15 years, the obligation is still there.
That’s why the schools are requiring the student/custodial parent to do a little work, track down the NCP, at least make the request. Who knows, the NCP may be in a much different financial situation than he/she was 18 years ago and may actually be able to pay.