What’s the process of completing CSS profile? Should this be done after completing and submitting FAFSA or independently of it?
Is CSS profile one time process for all schools that require it or each school has its own CSS profile to fill out and submit?
Does each school have its own deadline for CSS profile or there is one common deadline?
Who fills out and submits the CSS profile, the student or the parent?
You can complete both the FAFSA and the Profile…now. It’s your which you do first. The Profile has additional data points that the FAFSA doesn’t have.
We usually did the FAFSA first, then did the Profile.
There is one CSS Profile. You select the colleges to which this will be sent. You can submit to all of your schools requiring the Profile at once…or you can do it in dribs and drabs. If you know all of your schools, just do them all. If you aren’t sure, submit only to the ones you are sure about…and add others later.
****keep in mind, there are some schools that have their own financial aid form. Check each college website for their required submissions and DEADLINES. Get everything they request submitted before the deadline.
Check each school. Each school has its own deadlines. Don’t miss them.
The Profile is actually the student’s form, but it’s impossible to complete it without all the financial input from the parents. We did this as a team in the Thumper household.
I would add depending on the schools you put to receive the CSS Profile, additional school specific questions can be added to the form. I believe those questions are only seen by the school the requested the question.
So when do I see these additional school specific questions? When I try to submit CSS profile to specific school does the system alert me there are more questions to answer for this specific school?
Also those school that take CSS profile, do i still need to send them FAFSA or CSS profile only?
Make sure your family and your assets are of the date you submit FAFSA and that there aren’t unusual amounts in there. Payday is not a good day to choose. Or a day, you have a lump sum from insurance claims you intend to put into your damaged roof.
If a school requires Profile for making an institutional need-based aid decision, it’s almost a certainty that FAFSA will also be required. Look at each school’s financial aid web page to see what is required for your particular situation. This is your best source of information. And make sure you are aware of all school-specific deadlines.
I believe toward the end of filling out the CSS Profile, the questions for individual schools appeared (Section called SQ for Supplemental Questions). It looked just like any other question. I think one was about how many and what kind of cars I had. It was a few years ago. My kid ended up going to a school that did not ask any additional questions, so I only saw it the year he was applying to schools. There was a way to figure out what school requested what additional question.