<p>OK, so my family has been going through really hard times… my father has been abusing my mother physically and me and my siblings verbally for the past 5 years, and just recently I convinced my mother (with help from counselors) to get a protective order. Now, my father didn’t submit all of the finaid forms for my sister last year when my family was all together, and she didn’t get any finaid. Because of this I know he won’t help me here. My mother, who has custody, has never done taxes/income business and none of us have any idea what my father’s income is or used to be. He hasn’t filed his 2007 taxes (illegal, I know) and I don’t think he will for my benefit (he hasn’t even talked to me about it for a month)</p>
<p>Do colleges understand this stuff? Will I be able to get finaid even though my mother is unemployed and we have absolutely no money to pay for college and it’s almost impossible to fill out the finaid forms? I’ve been keeping my GPA at almost a 4.0 while taking every AP class my school offers because I want to go to Columbia or Bowdoin, and I have a feeling that I’m going to get in and not be able to go because of this.</p>
<p>Each college will react differently. You will need to talk to each financial aid office before you apply and see what they say.</p>
<p>In the meantime, start checking out the Merit Aid threads at the top of this forum. If your grades and test scores are as good as you indicate, you may very well be in the running for some of the full scholarships listed there. And many of those schools don’t require any financial information for merit scholarships (some do, of course).</p>
<p>I’m very sorry you’re all going through this, and I wish you the best of luck.</p>
<p>I, too , am sorry about all of this. I would send copies of the protective order and explain the situation in writing to the fin aid offices. The private schools have a great amount of leeway in interpreting the situation. They hear every sob story under the sun of a parent refusing to pay for college, and cannot respond generously to each such claim. But bolstered with the paperwork, the outcome might be different as it often does not get to that severe of a situation, and the legal documents will be proof positive that there is no way that you are going to get a dime out of your dad.</p>
<p>Yeah, I can make copies of the prot. order and send it along with my letter of circumstance. My counselor also told me to apply to University of Maryland… she guaranteed me that I would get a full scholarship there.</p>
<p>Take care, Ironmetal, and I wish you good luck. I hope all works out with your family and with your college plans. UMD is a great school. My son will likely apply there. Great if you can get a full ride there or anywhere. But don’t give up on your other choices too. I think you would have a good chance of getting something there as well given the situation and its documentation.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’ve really pictured myself at Bowdoin the past two years and it’s hard to change my mindset with my new situation, but I’ve also visited College Park, which has a more specific major that allows me to study exactly what I’m interested in… the only thing that bothers me about it is the size. Thanks for your suggestions, I never even thought of sending in a copy of the order =)</p>
<p>The order should go to FA, not to admissions, but your GC should talk about your family issues and that it had gone to Court order level in her rec if that can be managed. That you achieved so well under such family turmoil will count a lot.</p>
<p>Yeah, she’s been involved for at least a month and has commented multiple times on my maturity, so I hope that she’ll include that. Would it be to cliche to write an essay on the topic?</p>
<p>Better to somewhat touch on it somehow in an essay,not expound on it. Ask the GC to expound on it. Give her a copy of the order so she can see the level of discord there. Better someone else gives the story, but you can reinforce it with a slight mention.</p>
<p>Though abuse is coming from only one parent, try these links, and then ask the FA office at each college if Dependency Override might help you, especially if you cannot get the IRS data:</p>