Perhaps some of these schools may interest him? (But verify scholarships on the school web sites.)
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/
http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/ (if National Merit)
Also, Chicago, Albright, and (usually) Vanderbilt claim to offer good financial aid but do not require non-custodial parent information. Check their net price calculators and financial aid web pages.
@ucbalumnus, provision for paying for college is often part of a divorce agreement. If a divorcing couple doesn’t care enough about their kids’ education to include that, there is no reason to assume that they would make any provision if they stayed together. Similarly, if a couple chooses to expend their resources fighting a bitter divorce rather than coming to some kind of sane agreement that ultimately benefits all concerned, that’s a choice. There’s no evidence that that sort of person would put the money away for college if they stayed together. As far as I’m concerned, a parent who refuses to cooperate by simply filling out FA forms–doing so doesn’t mean that one HAS to contribute a dime, after all-- has shown that they care more about their own desire for revenge than their children, and again, there is no reason to assume that that person would be willing to pay much of anything if they were not divorced, if doing so would mean that they had to place their children’s education ahead of their own desires.
Some people’s income is so low that there is very little they can do, divorced or together. I don’t think the fact of divorce would make a big difference there.
@UmmSalman , some idea of your son’s stats and other qualifications are necessary to identify solid, affordable schools for him, because there is no such thing as a school that is affordable for everyone.
You could also check out the very long thread: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52133-schools-known-for-good-merit-aid.html#latest
UmmSalman, In order to help you find schools, please give us more information about your son-- interests (academic/ career), grades, curriculum, score range, what he’s looking for as far as size and environment.
I want to address a few things that have come up in this thread. I have multiracial kids and I allowed them to choose whichever of the options they wanted to choose when applying to college. The issue is similar to yours: I am one race, my exhusband was primarily another race and 1/4 native. I think your son should definitely check black and white and can choose whether or not he wants to check Asian. It is really up to him; both those options are honest. While there is a certain amount of latitude, what the colleges want is honesty. It is not about dna. It is not about last name. It is not about what someone walking down the street thinks you are. It is what your son is and what he feels he is. I am not Asian so I cannot check Asian saying I ‘identify’ with that group. However, many of us probably have some surprise dna-- in other words, we could very well be 1/16th something-- and we don’t know it, so we would never check it. Schools are testing dna or giving cultural quizzes. Your son can legitimately check whatever combination is true for him.
Next, I have gone through the process of getting non-custodial waivers at a number of schools for several children. I found that it was harder to gather evidence with each subsequent kid because, as years went by, there were fewer people in my life who knew the full story. What I chose to do was provide an explanatory letter, the original divorce decree and separation agreement (which also helps the college assess the financial situation of the parents, at least at that point-- so they know if they are dealing with a slick millionaire) and a number of letters of support. Over the years, that included a minister, a counselor, a school administrator, a doctor and a family friend. There was at least one school-- a school that showed a lot of interest in one of my kids-- that requested more information but, by then, kid had quite a few acceptances at preferred schools so we never responded.
And, just to address two different posts:
1- There are plenty of states where judges do not routinely provide for college costs in the divorce decree, even if one parent requests it. This is particularly true if the parents are not highly educated themselves. So colleges are used to seeing kids from divorced families whose planning is not addressed in the divorce decree.
2- twoinandone, romanigypsieyes is absolutely right when she said. “My mom’s “race/ethnicity” changed several times when she was growing depending on where she happened to be living (which country).” Different countries and even our own country have, over years, changed their definition of race and ethnicity. My race/ ethnicity has changed within the U.S. Just to give an example, the U.S. concept of 'Hispanic/ Latino" is a definition that is not shared by much of the world. So, for example, a white male from Spain is considered ‘white’ and just white anywhere else in the world; in the U.S., he would also check ‘Hispanic’ and be counted as Hispanic just as an indigenous person from Guatemala, the grandchild of Swiss/German migrants in Argentina and the descendants of slaves in Brazil (where, just like in the Caribbean, a lot of people identify as white although they are part black).
@2collegewego thanks for your comment - it was very helpful.