A Couple Questions about FAFSA and CSS

Paying for College
1

<p>Alright....I've applied to all 10 of my colleges, but I haven't done any financial aid prep for any of them yet. So I have a few questions:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Why are there current threads on here about the FAFSA? Aren't you not able to fill that out until after Jan. 1st? Or do Early Action schools actually require you to complete the 2012 FAFSA with 2011 Financial Records, and then just make changes to the 2013 FAFSA when you get your 2012 Financial Records?</p></li>
<li><p>The CSS Profile: Do you just fill this out once on CollegeBoard and then just send it to your desired schools?</p></li>
<li><p>Sending the CSS Profile: Okay, these are the colleges I'm looking at:
Northwestern
UNC Chapel Hill
UVA
Boston College
Rutgers
Indiana-Bloomington
UFlorida
Ohio State
Wisconsin
Maryland-CP</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I know that the Top 4 on this list use the CSS, and this may be because all four have great financial aid apparently. But my question for this is: how do I know whether the other 6 need my PROFILE? Is it just assumed that they all want it?</p>

<ol>
<li>And last question: when should I complete/send the PROFILE? I know it varies by school. But Northwestern, for example, says on their website that I should complete and send the CSS at least two weeks before the application deadline (Jan.1st)</li>
</ol>

<p>Does this mean that since my family will have to submit my PROFILE around Christmas time, but with my 2011 financial records? Also, if I use my 2011 records for that initial submission, is it easy to make changes to the PROFILE when we get our 2012 Financial Records?</p>

<p>Thank you very much guys! If you only know an answer to one question or just a part of a question, I would greatly appreciate it :)</p>

2

<p>You need to ask each of the schools that you are applying to what THEY want you to do. Some will need you to file the Profile now with estimated figures for this year. Some will ask you to do something else.</p>

3

<p>Look on the financial aid section of the website for EACH of the colleges. You will be able to find out what you need to submit to them, and the DEADLINES. Do NOT miss the deadlines! Check each school because the required submissions as well as the deadlines vary from school to school. </p>

<p>DO NOT MISS THE DEADLINES!</p>

4

<p>You can only send the CSS Profile to schools that require the profile. When you set up your profile account you will pick the schools to send it to - if a school on your list is not on the available list at theCSS Profile website then you cannot send them a profile.</p>

<p>Here is a list of schools and what they require regarding CSS Profile
<a href=“CSS Profile – CSS Profile | College Board”>CSS Profile – CSS Profile | College Board;

<p>Please note this list might not be up to date. Check each schools financial aid portion of the website for required forms and deadlines (they are serious with deadlines). Also some schools have their own forms in lieu of or in addition to the Profile/FAFSA so look carefully.</p>

<p>The profile for 2013-2014 is currently available. You will have to estimate your 2012 income (do not use 2011 for 2013-2014). It used to be that you could only change the values (after taxes are complete) by hand. So print out a copy of your final Profile form. They may have updated to allow online edits for this year - I haven’t filled mine out yet so I don’t know if this has been updated for this year.</p>