<p>From reading up on the CSS it looks like it takes Non-custodial parents income AND assets into account. I am not clear if both parents homes are counted as assets on CSS.</p>
<p>For individual schools that DONT use CSS but DO use their own "Institutioanl" forms, do they typically do this too? If yes, would the EFC come out simailar to the CSS profile? Is house equity usually counted on Institutional forms?</p>
<p>Would schools that use either the CSS or Institutional forms take into account that one of the parents also provide the support for an elderly disabled parent (not living with us though)?</p>
<p>I am planning on calling some of the schools we are looking at directly, but our list is still fairly long, and this could make a big difference in our case.</p>
<p>The answer to your questions, unfortunately, are: It depends. Each college can do whatever it wants; there are no rules or regulations about how schools can award their own institutional funds.</p>
<p>Most schools will consider that there is a cost to maintaining two households. Exactly how they do that is anyone's guess; no two schools will be exactly alike. Some may count both homes' equity; some may not. Some may "cap" the amount of home equity they consider for one or the other house or both; some may not. I would guess that it is the rare school that doesn't consider home equity at all.</p>
<p>Schools may or may not consider the support of an elderly parent in its discretion; again, there's no hard and fast rule.</p>
<p>There is also no way to know if the Profile EFC will be the same as a non-Profile, institutional EFC; one of the reasons is that you will never be told your Profile EFC at all. You only get a FAFSA EFC; the only other numbers for Profile EFC you may see on these boards are gotten from the various calculators. </p>
<p>Clear as mud? Yup. The only way to be sure is to apply for financial aid, knowing from the outset that some schools may still be too expensive (so that the disappointment of getting in but being unable to go is minimized), and then seeing what you get.</p>