Widowed, Divorced, or Separated Parents

In computing aid eligibility of families when a parent is widowed and remarried or parents are separated or divorced, the Financial Aid Office carefully considers the individual circumstances of each family unit. It, therefore, can be challenging to accurately estimate parent contributions using this calculator. The following guidelines will help improve the accuracy of your calculation, but please be aware that there can be substantial variation between what is determined using this calculator and Dartmouth's computation.

Widowed

If a parent is widowed and remarried, indicate "married" for marital status, and complete the form using data for the parent, stepparent and their dependents. Widowed parents who have not remarried, should use the "unmarried/separated/divorced" option for line 9 (parent's marital status).

Divorced or Separated

• If the noncustodial parent is unknown to the student, does not participate in the student's life (financially and otherwise), and whose financial data is unattainable, complete the form using only data for the custodial parent.
• If neither parent has remarried, complete the calculation once for each parent, alternately omitting data for one or the other parent each time.
• If the custodial parent has remarried, federal regulations require that information be completed for that family unit (parent, stepparent, their dependents). Please note, the Financial Aid Office computation may vary from this approach in determining eligibility for Dartmouth scholarship assistance.
• If both custodial and noncustodial parents have remarried, federal regulations require that information be completed only for the custodial family unit (parent, stepparent, their dependents) to determine federal eligibility. However, Dartmouth institutional eligibility requires a second calculation for the noncustodial parent (information from the noncustodial parent's spouse does not have to be included in the calculation). Please note, the Financial Aid Office computation may vary from this approach in determining eligibility for Dartmouth scholarship assistance.

Instructions:

1. Complete all applicable portions of the following form.
2. Check data carefully. Incorrect data can lead to misleading results.
3. Submit the form.
4. Review estimated Parent Contribution. If you wish, you may print and save the result for your records.
5. Repeat if appropriate (see above).

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