Peculiar Parental Pay

Paying for College
1

<p>My mom makes decent income, as does my dad (he gets disability funds ever since he’s been let go). My question is this, if my parents are legally both income earning, do I have any recourse if my dad doesn’t pay for college like he would normally be expected to?</p>

<p>Basically, my mom is fine, but my dad isn’t right in the head a lot of times (but not legally considered insane or anything, either), and spends thousands of dollars on a lot of frivolous things. I have a legal income earning parent that I can’t really count on to help pay for my college education. What can I do?</p>

2

<p>If you explin the situation to the college they might help you. GL</p>

3

<p>Do you get the opportunity for stuff like that in Financial Aid apps?</p>

4

<p>you really cant do anything but hope for a lot of merit aid. i had a friend who didnt have any contact with her dad but he was still expected to pay; your situation is less serious than that.</p>

5

<p>“I have a legal income earning parent that I can’t really count on to help pay for my college education.”</p>

<p>Problem is, they aren’t obligated.</p>

6

<p>I realize that, hence my plight. They aren’t obligated, but I think my EFC still calculates them into the equation as if they did, or specifically, one parent in this case.</p>

7

<p>The colleges expect both parents (and in some cases, step parents) to contribute, but there is no law that requires them to do so. Work with your mom to see what you can realistically expect, and work within that framework. Many kids put themselves through college.</p>

8

<p>Hi, I see that you are in Arkansas. Have you taken a look at this website?</p>

<p><a href=“http://arkansasscholarshipconnection.org/[/url]”>http://arkansasscholarshipconnection.org/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Good luck with your situation… not an easy one to deal with.</p>

<p>Edit: I forgot to mention, the Arkansas Academic Challenge scholarship <em>only</em> counts the custodial parent’s income, which has to be under $60K. So if your parents are divorced, only your mom’s income would count.</p>