Beyond FAFSA: What is the CSS Profile?
The *other* financial aid application and why most families don't have to worry about it
October is here which, in normal years, means that financial aid application season has begun.
(Sigh, I miss normal admissions and financial aid years)
We've talked before about the FAFSA challenges from last year and, unfortunately, those challenges are still being resolved, so the majority of students and families will not be able to access the FAFSA application until December 2024.
With FAFSA still essentially under construction right now, I thought it might be helpful to talk about another financial aid application that some students and families might be asked to complete: the CSS Profile.
What is the CSS Profile?
There is a good chance you may not have heard about the CSS Profile and an even better chance that you’ve never filled one out… most people haven’t!
The CSS Profile is a financial aid application owned by the College Board (also known as company that owns the SAT and AP tests) that acts as a supplement to the FAFSA allowing participating colleges and universities to do a much deeper dive into their applicants financial situations.
The CSS Profile, which also opens October 1st, is primarily used to award non-federal aid and DOES NOT EVER replace the FAFSA. A small percentage of colleges and universities, generally those that are higher cost, use it for determining institutional aid and scholarships. It is also believed that some colleges that still make "need aware" admissions decisions (e.g. factoring in a student's ability to pay for college and/or how much unmet financial need they'll have after receiving federal financial aid) may use the information provided by the CSS in their admissions decision-making process, but I can't find confirmation of this on their website… which makes sense because people don’t like to be reminded that some schools are much more likely to admit a wealthy student than a low or middle income one.
Who has to complete the CSS Profile?
The vast majority of students applying to college in a given year will NOT have to complete the CSS Profile.
The CSS Profile is used by less than 10% of colleges and universities in the country. The colleges and universities that use it are typically (but not always) more expensive, more selective private colleges. There are also schools like Hillsdale College, which don't allow students to use federal financial aid, on the list. There are also a few less selective public universities that use the CSS to help award students whose citizenship status prevents them from being able to fill out the FAFSA. All students completing the CSS must have a College Board account (which they might have set up if they signed up for an SAT).
In addition to the roughly 3001 colleges and universities that use the CSS, there are also some private scholarship programs, including the Armenian Student Association of America and the Horace Greeley Scholarship Foundation, may offer students the option to complete either the CSS Profile or FAFSA as part of their awarding process. This can be helpful for students from higher cost of living areas, because things like housing costs aren’t considered in the FAFSA and can be a significant factor in how much financial need a student actually has.
How is the CSS Profile different from FAFSA?
There are several key distinctions between the CSS Profile and the FAFSA, and not just that the CSS Profile is actually currently working!
As a reminder, the colleges2 that ask for the CSS always have students do the FAFSA as well because the ONLY way to access federal financial aid programs like the Pell Grant is through the FAFSA.
The biggest difference between the CSS Profile and the FAFSA is that the CSS asks for A LOT more information (which I'll describe in the next section). Some of the other key differences between the two applications include:
The CSS Profile can be completed by both domestic and international students, while the FAFSA is limited to US citizens or qualified residents. Some schools may require international students to complete it to ensure that the student has enough financial resources to support themselves while studying, given that their employment options may be limited.
The CSS Profile allows for colleges and universities to customize their application with supplemental questions (for example, perhaps they want to know a student's intended major or parents employer) whereas the FAFSA cannot be altered by the institutions.
The CSS Profile includes a narrative section that allows for a student to share information about special circumstance that may impact their ability to pay for college but that aren't obvious from their FAFSA. This could include things like elder care, extraordinary medical expenses, a recent job loss for one of the parents, etc. This is the kind of information that students can share with financial aid offices at non-CSS schools as well, but usually will have to submit it separately as part of a request for a professional judgement review.
The CSS Profile doesn't allow for users to import data directly from the IRS, as the FAFSA does, so it does require having tax returns and financial statements on hand to manually enter that information.
The CSS Profile both asks for past income information (from the most recent tax return) and for projections of future earnings (so will ask for projected income for the current year)
There is NEVER a charge to submit a FAFSA, but there is a charge for submitting the CSS Profile. The cost is $25 for the first application and $16 for subsequent applications, unless the student either has a fee code (provided by a college or university) or qualifies for a fee waiver. Fee waivers are available for students who qualified for a fee waiver for the SAT, who are orphans or wards of the court, or who have family adjusted gross income below $100,000.
What information does the CSS Profile ask for?
The CSS Profile is really designed to show a much more comprehensive3 look at a family's finances and asks applicants to disclose:
If the student has already earned a private scholarship or is eligible for a third party to make payment (for example, if the student or parent has an employer that offers tuition remission as a benefit)
Current value of parental retirement accounts4
Current value of investment accounts
Value of businesses owned by student or parent
For non-renters, the CSS will ask for the purchase price, current value, and current mortgage on the family's primary residence
Expenses like K-12 private school tuition, existing educational loan debt (for parents or if parents took out loans in their name for another child), medical or dental costs
Financial information for both the custodial and noncustodial parent, in circumstances where the parents are not married5.
Like the FAFSA, the CSS Profile will also ask for family size and the number of family members currently enrolled in higher education.
Why don't more colleges use the CSS Profile?
Last year, when FAFSA was months behind, some schools that used the CSS were able to use that information to make some estimated financial aid offers earlier than schools that had to wait for FAFSA, so it may have given them a bit of a competitive advantage in the recruitment process. So… why don't more schools require the CSS?
Well one answer might be as simple as money: College and universities have to pay to participate in the CSS Profile, so many schools may not wish to use institutional funds to participate, especially lower cost public institutions that may not award as much institutional aid. While the Profile definitely gives more comprehensive information about the financial circumstances of their applicants, many schools may not feel like they need that level of disclosure to make admissions or financial aid decisions.
Schools also know that every additional request they make from students in the application process might be a barrier for students, especially those who are first generation college students or those who don’t have a lot of family support, so an extra application can risk becoming a deterrent for some students.
Questions about the CSS or the current state of the FAFSA? Feel free to drop them in the comments!
It’s hard to get an exact number for how many colleges use the Profile, but most estimates put it between 200-400
Except for places like Hillsdale
Some parents describe it as “invasive”
Many schools say that they do not factor in this information nor do they expect parents to use retirement resources to fund college expenses
The Profile is set up so that the custodial and noncustodial parents are not able to see each other’s financial information, which is a good safety and privacy measure
If I have a child applying to schools that require the CSS, should we just rip the bandaid off and do it now? Wait until they are accepted?