Many schools (and rightly so) assume that parents have the primary responsibility to pay for their kid’s college educations. Aid that you receive from schools is generally paid by other families who are paying full tuition, so schools need to have some pretty firm lines drawn on when they will allow a parent to get off the hook. If you don’t even know how to contact your parent and they have never paid child support, you have a decent shot at getting a waiver at some schools.