Listen to @kelsmom. Because your father provides the bulk of your support, he likely is your custodial parent…even if you don’t live with him. I’m not sure how you would get a waiver if this is in fact true. You can’t get waivers for your custodial parent profile…and that parent’s info will be required on the FAFSA.
@kelsmom if this student really has had no contact for 3 years, but the other parent receives alimony…is there any way the parent he resides with would be considered his custodial parent for FAFSA anyway.
I don’t know if this is relevant, but when the student talks about moving to the US for 7 months for the father to “transfer citizenship” this most likely means that what happened was that the father naturalized, then applied for a green card for his minor child so that the latter could derive citizenship. This would have been fulfilled by the child then residing in the US (the 7 months would be more than enough) in the physical and legal custody of the US citizen parent - such proof would have been supplied to USCIS (to get a citizenship certificate) and/or Dept of State (to get a passport). If the parents are divorced (or were never married), there needs to be formal proof of custody - dual custody counts as legal custody for this purpose. Then again although the custody issue might get further muddied with this, I also don’t see any way in which this information would be shared with the colleges. So this may be irrelevant but as there is a direct implication for custody I thought I should mention it.
The only way around using the father’s information would be to request and be granted a professional judgment decision regarding FAFSA parent from each school … and there is no way to know if a given school would do that (a decision at one school is not used by any other school). You would have to talk to the financial aid department at each school and explain the situation. If a school indicates that they will entertain a request like this, they will tell you what documentation you need.
I honestly don’t know what might happen if you talk to the schools.
Sounds like this is the only way though; it will be long and tedious, emailing meet need colleges one by one…
If the mother’s total income is 7k and the father won’t provide child support nor college aid, the student doesn’t have options if she’s supposed to enter the father as custodial parent - which he isn’t for anything beside FAFSA since he apparently doesn’t participate in educational or medical decisions nor in raising the child save for the 7 months mentioned above - based on the information we have, in addition to not paying child support, the father is absent.
All points would matter to need blind meet need college though I can’t tell whether it’d make a difference. At some, it does, and others stick to not dead/not in jail/not deadbeat…
Surely there will be some meet need colleges that will have a legal rather than FAFSA definition - That definition seems built for a traditional situation, not a parent&child living abroad.
Are your parents officially divorced? Was there an official, written settlement? Did it include anything about college?
Have you lived with your father before or after these 7 months?
Are you in contact with your father (visits, emails, zoom meetings, cards…)?
Would you be considered instate for public universities in your father’s state?
I’m trying to figure out if you even have a case you can use for a letter.
Based on what I see posted, there is no case to ignore the father as FAFSA parent. It would be a hard sell to document otherwise. However, there may be other things involved in the situation that are not and perhaps should not be posted here that might persuade a school or schools to do a professional judgment.
Yes my parents are officially divorced. I lived with him when I was 3, for 2 months. I seldom text him (once every 6 months or so). I don’t know if I’ll be considered in state, will make a separate thread to ask that.
Colleges 100% do not care whether your parent is legally required to pay for college. The fact that your parent has to complete the FAFSA doesn’t obligate them to pay. This is the chart for determining the parent to use for FAFSA: https://studentaid.gov/sites/default/files/is-my-parent-a-contributor.jpg.
As an aside, this new FAFSA rule seems like an incentive for vicarious abuse
@sunflower1910 : your dad texting is contact so that contact further undermines the idea he shouldn’t be used as custodial parent. Typically more than a year without any contact is the minimum.
The fact your mother doesn’t work and uses your dad’s alimony as sole income makes it very difficult too. If she made just $10 more than him she’d be your custodial parent…
If the colleges require your dad’s financial information, this official document signed will not mean a thing to them when they calculate your need based aid offer.
I want to emphasize this. Your father completing the FAFSA and CSS Profile do not obligate him to pay. It is necessary for you to possibly receive financial aid (if his income isn’t too high) and more importantly have access to federal student loans.
Since you are a US citizen does that limit your options in India? I don’t know. Do you have affordable options there?
1+ year w/o contact from the parent.
The kid reaching out doesn’t count unless the parent responds.
Will your dad accept to fill out FAFSA/CSS?
(although I understand its results wiuld skew the search, he should know he won’t have any obligation to pay and you would automatically qualify for a loan).
Being a bright girl in a poor single parent family in India is difficult in ways that are different from a similar situation in the US so I am sympathetic to your wish to leave. Plus ofc reconnecting to part of your cultures.
@sunflower1910 : is your mom supportive of your studying in the US? What about aunties support? Relatives?
Unfortunately that’s not how it works. Otherwise people would play the system to shift the responsibility of paying for their kids’ education.
I’m so sorry you’re in this position. This is a lot of information and I’m sure it’s difficult to hear. It sounds like your family misunderstood how US colleges work and now you’re faced with figuring it out. I hope the helpful folks here can help you find a plan that will work.
Is your dad prepared to help at all? For example, if there is a college within commuting distance of his home, would he be willing to let you live there if you could get a tuition scholarship? (Assuming that would be tenable for you of course)
The father contributes 7k/year and the basis for having the father as custodial parent is that he contributes the most to the child’s costs. So if the mother contributed more than the father then she’d become the custodial parent. It’d make a difference wrt Pell.
That being said making 7k/year in India is not easy depending on OPs mother’s skills and where they live (minimum wage is ~$65/mo so 7k is more than 10 times the minimum wage).
