Another source mentions, “…reputable third party include people in the following professions: attorney, member of a clergy, therapist, guidance counselor, teacher,
coach, etc. This person must be familiar with your situation and can explain on your behalf what your circumstances are with your
noncustodial parent.”
As for the admission review issue, for the tippy tops, the area rep is usually one of the first readers, then others (usually several) on the team will read, rate, and comment on his whole app/supp. It all contributes. Make sure he knows what those colleges like (it’s more than stats) and makes his best presentation.
These results will be too optimistic for schools that require the non-custodial parent information, unless they give a waiver. Effectively, this means that they will be even more of a reach than they already are (since getting the waiver is typically difficult).
If he is aiming for super-selective schools, the ones that do not require non-custodial parent information are Chicago and usually Vanderbilt.
If he does not cooperate on the CSS Profile, and the college does not grant a waiver, then the college will give no financial aid.
Basically, most of the “good financial aid” private schools assume that divorced parents will cooperate and contribute, even though that is probably not true for most.
that’s fine, but expecting a kid who has already been ditched by their parent to prove there is no relationship (how do you prove something doesn’t exist?) and punishing them yet again for that dead beat’s choices (and the only responsible parent) is just horrible…
It is horrible of courses. And unfair. They probably do it anyway because there is no viable alternative.
There is a high stake - hundreds of thousand dollars - that they are seeking benefit rather than claiming what they are already entitled. Innocent people have to prove their innocence all the time, as long as there is circumstance for a suspicion, through alibi, etc.
I’m sure this was answered already. If your son has a choice, he puts all his races, African, Asian, European. If he doesn’t have a choice, he puts whatever race he identifies with, NOT the race that others see him as.
My three children are African, Asian, and European, but mostly European. My one son and I look Asian. The rest of my children look white, although they have a few individual characteristics of their African background. My son who looks Asian has identified as Asian occasionally, but I doubt the others would.
As for religion, what religion is he now?
As for language, I had a friend who was Farsi and did not know Arabic at all. That does happen.
So your son is multiracial, and he can put whatever he wants on his application. If he doesn’t “feel black” or “feel Asian” he shouldn’t put it. But for the census, it is as I listed above.
I do have Greek friends who were in South Africa for generations, and their son put African on his college application as his parents were both born in Africa, in addition to European (white).
I find it EXTREMELY hard to believe that the OP will not be able to obtain a waiver. If she couldn’t get one, who could?
I certainly think she should get organized about applying for one and make a solid case, but i can’t imagine it being denied, given the circumstances.
When it comes to FA, I’d be more concerned about the issue of treating standard benefits as regular income. Maybe a targeted inquiry on the FA forum will elicit some experiences from others who have been in that situation.
However, would there be that many sham divorces for college financial aid purposes, compared to the number of other divorces that are often non-cooperative (and which also typically have an impoverishing effect on both ex-spouses and any kids, due to the added cost of maintaining separate households and paying lawyers)?
It may be that the real motivation by these schools is to keep the financial aid cost down. They want to be able to say that offer good financial aid and need-blind admissions, but not spend too much on financial aid. Requiring non-custodial parent information for students with divorced parents effectively screens out a large population of higher-than-typical-need students.
Probably not. But at the same time, my assumption is that people always make the most economic decision. When the benefit outweighs the sum of all consequence, both internal and external, they flip.
Perhaps there can be a middle ground, such putting years of non-custody as a major consideration, etc.
A sham divorce for college financial aid purposes would entail extra costs, since one of the ex-spouses would have to move out and set up his/her own household (unmarried parents living together are treated the same as married for FAFSA purposes). Such extra costs would cut into or possibly negate any financial aid gain derived from a sham divorce. That is in addition to any inconvenience issues that the ex-spouses after a sham divorce would encounter living separately when they would rather have wanted to live together.
As a college professor, I have to ask PLEASE OH PLEASE do NOT push your child to try to get them into a “better school” through shenanigans like moving or listing different citizenship.
My state college has consistently admitted larger and larger classes, and the students are getting less and less able to meet their academic goals.
Think about this - would you rather an appropriate school for your child, where they are in the middle 50%, or one where they are in the lower 25%? If they struggle at a better school than they can meet the requirements of on their original merits, is that good or bad?
I worry about how high suicide rates are and the incidence of depression in college students. A college campus can be excellent like my alma mater, and still be dealing with many suicides (I believe 13 in a period of just over a year). They can offer free counseling and be great for 95% of the students. But don’t set your child up to be one of the 5% who thinks it is their worst mistake ever.
And about NCP being not involved in the family at all - not providing financial support or having any contact with the child - I would think that wouldn’t be hard to prove via taxes and housing and bank accounts.
@rhandco was your message about not moving your kid, etc directed at me? I don’t have any intention of mentioning any citizenship other than my son’s true citizenship (American) and I certainly didn’t move to where I live now to make him look interesting to colleges. In fact it wasn’t my decision to move here in the first place. My ex got a job in another city in this country, and I got stranded here when he took off and left me here with a 2 year old and a 7 year old and no money because he had cleaned everything out. My original post here is about the ethnicity question on applications, and my son is a mixture of ‘black’, ‘white’ and ‘Asian’. He himself would never be able to pass as white, so checking something other than white certainly wouldn’t be dishonest or a play he is making simply to get into a school. I would be very happy if my son got into any solid state or private school that offered something he was interested in, doesn’t have to be Ivy league, if he got a good financial aid package.
@ucbalumnus I was thinking the same thing, that it seems they are trying not to give financial aid to kids like my son because it seems they really want to make it hard for a child who has a deadbeat parent to prove that they have a deadbeat parent. If you look at the requirements for the waiver, you will see they require letters from 'professional, non partial, adults" who aren’t friends of the family that your teenager for some reason felt perfectly comfortable telling his/her whole life story to… I don’t know about other kids who have been abandoned by their fathers but mine prefers to talk about that as little as possible with anyone - including those of us who already know about it - so it would be downright unnatural for him to tell a stranger. And, also, if you think about it, that is a very illogical requirement since no outsider who isn’t close to / friendly with the family can verify if a kid actually has contact with his parent or if he / she sends the child money or not. All they can do is repeat whatever the child has told them - so why doesn’t the school just take the kids word for it supported by something like court documents? Or lots of letters from people close to the family if they really want an accurate picture?
regarding the discussion as to whether people would actually get a divorce for the sake of financial aid, I too find it hard to believe that many people would do something like that. It would also entail making their children lie about not ever seeing them; and most parents, even slightly shady ones, would not sink that low.
The truth is that there are a lot of legitimately deadbeat dads (and moms) out there, way too many, and schools are well aware of this, and they are aware of the fact that kids in those families usually have financial need. A lot of the most economically and socially disadvantaged kids in the US are in this very situation. This is a great way to totally disqualify a large number of needy kids from eligibility while pretending to be giving opportunities to all. The sanctimonious BS on each and every website about ‘we believe education is the family’s responsibility’ makes me angry. As if that lecture will suddenly inspire some deadbeat jerk to pay up. The deadbeat won’t care how this impacts his/ her kid’s education. Obviously if he cared, he would have been paying all along.
Maybe so. But I don’t find enough motivation to do so. Boasting about meeting full need while saving cost doesn’t make enough sense to become the main motivation.
On the other hand, I believe that the prime directive of any professional is protecting one’s job. C.Y.A. Cover Your Ass.
The policy is easier to understand In this context; They are transferring the responsibility to another professional to protect themselves, or simply trying to do their due diligence, rather than trying to punish kids with divorced parents or actively misrepresent the school’s financial aid policy.
