I have to file the CSS Profile for two of the schools I’m applying to, in addition to the FAFSA. I’m currently in a legal guardianship. When I filed the FAFSA, it recognized my status as an independent student, and gave me an EFC of zero. However, the CSS Profile does not recognize me as an independent student, and is asking for my legal guardian’s information. My legal guardian will not be contributing to my college costs whatsoever, and I’m afraid that the profile is going to mess up my financial aid (my lg is in a considerably well paying job with good assets).
What is the usual outcome for cases like mine? Will colleges work to understand my situation, or screw me over with a lot less aid than I need?
I would suggest you contact the financial aid offices at the schools…and ask them. They will be able to tell you how they deal with this situation.
^ Agreed. Each one may be different and the answers you receive may shape your school list.
I was a legal guardian and the schools that required the Profile wanted me to fill it out. A few had differing ideas, but as most schools wanted only my info, the wavering schools went along with the majority because you can only file the Profile once (one school wanted the student to file Profile as independent, and one wanted noncustodial info from both parents which the Profile does not even allow).
My income was not so high as to be a big problem but the best FinAid did come from the two FAFSA-only schools, and the student enrolled in one of them, making future FinAid applications much simpler.
Basically the Profile is a private enterprise for private colleges (maybe a few publics) and they can ask for anybody’s financial information that they please. I strongly suggest that you try to choose mostly/all FAFSA-only schools to apply to. If your guardian makes/has a lot of money, yes it will cause problems for your FinAid.
You can certainly explain your particular circumstances to each school and see if they will make an exception in your case. But all the schools will have to be on board, you can’t file two different ways.
Call the colleges. You don’t k ow if this will cause a problem for YOU even though the above poster says it will.
There have been posters here in the past who have indicated that the guardian information was not needed, some that said it was filled in but not used, and for all I know, some schools do use guardian information for aid.
But really…call the schools. Explain your situation, and ask them what to do.
The FAFSA only schools do NOT guarantee to meet full need (with the exception of University of Chicago). If this poster is looking at very competitive and generous universities that require the Profile, he or she needs to contact the schools and ask the SCHOOLS.
Thank you everyone – I have contacted the colleges via email, so I’ll hopefully hear back soon.
In case anyone was wondering, the two that require it are Emerson College and Sarah Lawrence College, which could definitely be considered semi-selective privates.
I’ll update with results once I hear back.
I suggest you look up each of the schools on your list on College Navigator and check out “Net Price.” Since you will (hopefully) be viewed as independent, and you have a FAFSA EFC of zero, check out what the net price is for incomes in the lowest dollar range.
You will see, for instance, that both Emerson and Sarah Lawrence require the poorest of the poor to shell out something like $25k to $30k per year. Net price is what the student has to come up with after “free” money–could be loans, employment, savings, etc.
Maybe the other schools on your list do better in this area, but if not, I strongly encourage you to find some schools with a net price below $10k or so, to avoid disappointment based on financials. Contrary to popular belief, it is not just the top 20 colleges or the colleges that publicly tout “meet full need” that actually make college affordable for low income students.
Many very good but just not as well recognized schools do very well by the lowest income students. Midwest LACs come to mind. Franklin and Marshall and Trinity College make a pretty good showing. Without trying to do your college search for you, and I know you probably consider your college list a done deal, I hope you will take a few minutes to analyze the likelihood of getting the funding you need, and possibly add a couple of financial safeties to your list.
@alooknac I’ve never used College Navigator before–thank you for suggesting it! I’ve just messed around on it for a few minutes, and it seems to be a great resource.
In regards to financial safeties, I’ve already been accepted into two state schools, one half affiliated state school, and one private offering me 27k/yr in merit (I live in PA). All of these colleges have the ability to be a good financial fit for me, which makes me feel a lot more comfortable progressing in my college search.
It’s a shame, because Emerson is definitely my number one school. I’m applying to their honors college program, which comes with half tuition scholarship–which increasingly seems to be the only real way it’d be affordable enough for me to attend.
It’s somewhat of a disappointment that a lot of schools fail to offer enough support to independent students.
As long as you have some financial safeties, go for the gold, you might get lucky!
I’m not sure if anyone would like to follow my outcomes, but I’ll post them anyway:
I got into Emerson EA, but didn’t get into their honors college, so no half tuition scholarship. They gave me 6k a year in scholarship money… essentially nothing off of a 60k price tag. They want so many documents from me for financial aid, that I’ve given up completely. It’s not going to be affordable, anyway.
I won’t hear back from Sarah Lawrence until the spring.
But, I think that I’m set on Pitt, pending their financial aid offer–which should be affordable according to the NPC.
Thank you all for your advice prior–it really helped me a lot!
I always like to hear “the rest of the story.” Good luck on your college adventure!
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But, I think that I'm set on Pitt, pending their financial aid offer--which should be affordable according to the NPC.
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What did the NPC results indicate?
This student is in guardianship. The net price calculator probably won’t be accurate.
NPC only gave things that can be calculated-- my federal loan amounts and Pell grant info, along with PHEAA grant stuff. Pitt gives out need based institutional grants, too, but I’m unfamiliar with them–I’ve posted a thread about it on CC but will be calling FA tomorrow to get more information. We do have some life insurance money from my mom that can be used to fill in what isn’t met, I just have to see what that number is actually going to be.
Fingers crossed for institutional grants, but even without them, it most likely will work out financially… I hope. If not, I have other sound options too!
Congratulations and thank you for updating us.
If you liked Sarah Lawrence and Emerson for theater, try Muhlenberg - superb theater program, meets need for most. If it was for writing, try Denison - several writing concentrations and good financial aid too. 
Deadline is Jan 15 so you can still try and see.
Just wanted to leave an update on this thread in case anyone was curious of outcomes.
Sarah Lawrence actually waitlisted me, which I expected, so I have no real way of knowing what their aid offer would have been; Emerson’s wasn’t doable, either.
Pitt’s financial aid office has worked with me a lot–and I’m very grateful for that. Net price came down to ~6k a year, and Pitt will be where I’m attending next year!
Congrats!!!
Pitt is an awesome school. Congratulations!!