As I posted above…you will need a good reason to request a waiver. A non-custodial parent saying they won’t pay for college is not a reason a waiver will be granted.
You need to demonstrate that this other parent really isn’t able to be contacted, has not been part of your life for a long time, or something else like parent is in jail.
Schools that require the nonCustodial form use that information to determine their need based aid.
Northwestern requires the non-custodial parent form.
But if you have the stats for NU, have you looked for schools where you would receive decent merit aid? If not…start there.
The top ones mentioned are…Arizona State, University of Arizona, University of Alabama, University of New Mexico. All have guaranteed merit aid based on your stats…income not considered. All have honors colleges. All are good universities!