<p>And a number of those colleges give the choice of Profile or their own institutional form which is often free.</p>
<p>A couple of people have suggested here that if you cannot afford the 18 dollars per school for Profile, that you should stick to state schools or schools that do not require Profile. This is not the best option in some cases.</p>
<p>If your son or daughter is a very good student, and you have a very low EFC, you want to apply to good schools that meet the highest % of need. If he/she gets in to a Ivy/near Ivy you will move heaven and earth to pay the 500/1000/1500 dollars per year you can't afford. But that doesn't mean a family thats living week to week can afford the extra 100-150 dollars for the profile, with some of those 18.00 going to schools you may not get into. And because you need the best financial package you can get, you have to apply to a larger number of school so as not to get caught short of options. </p>
<p>There are families that received fee waivers for every application they submit, but do not qualify for fee waiver for the Profile. I called to inquire for the criteria used, the representative told me "they don't tell us, sorry". </p>
<p>There is no new information not included in the fafsa in this Profile, but they know you have no choice but to pony up.</p>
<p>Sybbie:</p>
<p>I second your comments. If kids are applying to schools that cost ~$200k by the time they are done, $18 is a small price to pay to look for some free money. (At best, its the cost of a few frappucinos at Starbucks.) </p>
<p>FastLane: Alternatively, we could go back to the good old days (aka dark ages of the '70s), when every college had its OWN application and its OWN FinAid forms -- yes, they were free, but they all had different directions, required different reporting and were inconsistently applied. OTOH, think about completing 8 COMPLETELY different FAFSa's, all with different rules and directions, and interpretations -- is $18 worth it for a ONE, simplified form? For some folks, absolutely.</p>
<p>I don't begrudge CB thier (monopoly) business as long as the continue to heavily promote and subsidize waivers to kids that cannot afford the fees.</p>
<p>If you look back at the OP it was a student who was complaining about how expensive the CSS Profile is, especially when you are applying to several schools. Thats all. And many students feel the same way he/she does. </p>
<p>All of the sudden it turns in to a discussion about how irresponsible and ignorant kids are because they apply to too many schools, that we shouldnt complain about paying $18 (it is actually $23/school) in light of the aid we are looking to receive, and that we should apply to different colleges if we dont want to pay the fees. </p>
<p>Well no one said they didnt want to pay the fees, just that they are too high. </p>
<p>I dont consider myself irresponsible at all. I have worked PT my 4 yrs of HS and FT every summer. I see how hard my parents have to work for their money. I was taught to be responsible with money, to save and to plan. The fact that I am questioning charges that I believe are too expensive for the purpose they serve, means I AM looking out for my money and my parents money. I dont see how this is irresponsible to look out for my own interests. Im expressing my opinion.</p>
<p>I applied to as many schools as I did, because I had a need to. I applied to the schools I believe will be the best for me and my future. Im offended by someone telling me that because I applied to more schools than THEY believe is good, or was good for THEIR kid, it makes me ignorant. It does not. All people are different; they have different needs and different situations. Six schools might be the norm but it doesnt mean that everyone will fit in to that category. </p>
<p>Im also aware that there are thousands of colleges and universities in the US. However, there are only a few that fit MY NEEDS for location, finances and future goals something no one here knows about. So is it fair for anyone to tell me I should change my schools instead of complaining about the fees? It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out what is being implied: shut up kid, take it or leave it.</p>
<p>Well it may be easy for some of you to say. From your posts on other threads its obvious that your kids are lucky enough to know exactly where they want to go, that many of them have been accepted or attend top schools, they have done their research thoroughly and that they have parents who are very knowledgeable and concerned about the college process, and many who are college grads. Im not putting that down, its something that you and your kids can be very proud of.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, there are some of us that dont know exactly where we will fit in yet (according to one poster then we arent even ready for college if we dont know). Some of us have parents that are not knowledgeable about the college process, some of us have parents that are not interested in getting involved, some of us have parents that did not go to college, some of us have parents that are foreigners and cant help us even if they wanted to. There could be 100 different scenarios.</p>
<p>When you tell us things like then apply to schools that dont require the profile, then dont apply to so many schools, and colleges arent interested in students that dont know where they fit in, community college is always an option: dont you see that you are not helping, youre only squashing our dreams? I dont think its necessary to bash us simply because we said we thought the fees are too high. The app process is over for many of us; the profiles have already been submitted. Were talking in retrospect, not much we can change at this point.</p>
<p>AMEN to that! That's EXACLTY how I feel. Thank you Fastlane!</p>
<p>FL:</p>
<p>your points are well taken and its great that you are cost conscious. And, I also am of the belief that even with good research, an unhooked kid might consider applying to more than 6 schools, for all kinds of reasons, including the lotto schools --like the ad says, you gotta play (apply, in this case) to win! :)</p>
<p>As a parent, I think $23 is ok, however. Remember, CB moved into this void bcos each and every college had its own FinAid forms, and all forms were different. Heck, even many publics had different FinAid forms in the same state system. Imagine your parents rushing to finish their 1040 early, and then having to slog thru pages of 8-10 individual FinAid forms - yikes. Since it take several hours to slog thru just one form (to proof read, if nothing else), CB did the research with the colleges and developed a format that most would find acceptable for a majority of cases. Even at minimum wage, $23 apiece is not a bad deal, IMO.</p>
<p>You certainly have a right to vent about the fees. We also have the right to point out that "them's the facts" and that this is just tip of the iceberg. I know exactly how you feel and more. My son applied to 20 schools. Way to many, in my opinion, but we did let him do it. More than half the schools have an audition component which means not only the app fee, but an auditon fee and you have to go to the school, usually stay the night to be there fresh and ready for the audition. The cost is exhorbitant. My husband asked, what the heck a poor, talented kid would do who wanted to go into this field, and I had to say that his options would be much, much more limited as he could only audition in his immediate area or would have to piggyback off of someone else in order to do all of this. </p>
<p>I feel that it is a disgrace that all of this costs as much as it does, especially the tuition, now this demonstrated interest that means you had better go visit. But that is the way the system is set up. I will say that the cost of applications has not gone up any where nearly as much the tuition costs. Back in the dark ages when I applied, it was about $25 for an app, but the tuition was about $3000 for college which is now more than 10 times the cost. Since Profile is a private service, who should pick up the cost? Perhaps the colleges that can then spread it out among their applicants, since app costs have not gone up as much in price, and in some cases with free on line apps,it is cheaper. An idea to pass on to the Collegeboards.</p>
<p>"When you tell us things like then apply to schools that dont require the profile, then dont apply to so many schools, and colleges arent interested in students that dont know where they fit in, community college is always an option: dont you see that you are not helping, youre only squashing our dreams? I dont think its necessary to bash us simply because we said we thought the fees are too high. The app process is over for many of us; the profiles have already been submitted. Were talking in retrospect, not much we can change at this point."</p>
<p>FL & twofme: </p>
<p>This pretty much says how I felt after reading through this thread. Don't know how you guys feel but it's getting harder and harder for me to keep optimistic when I read or participate in CC posts - and I'm a very easy going person! It just seems like everytime you turn around someone is doubting their 1300 & 1400's, or telling you how your score is isn't good enough. Or your GPA is too low. Or your EC's aren't so impressive. Now its like you didn't do enough research and applied to too many schools so maybe you should change your college choices. Maybe this isn't the right site for me.</p>
<p>I hope that come April 1st I can come back on these boards and tell all these negative people how wrong they all were!</p>
<p>I dont see anyone as being negative merely pragmatic
I have seen too many cases like this
A national merit scholar is shocked to find that the most ANY of her schools will give her for merit is $500.
A student that has an international baccalaurate diploma, 4.0 + GPA and 1500 SAT scores is turned down from 5 out of her 7 schools.
A student who is offered a very generous package for freshman year, is warned that this school often offers only loans in subsequent years, chooses the school anyway and has to drop out midway through junior year because she just can't keep up with expenses after her mother died.
I hope people do come back and say that they have been offered a great deal that matches their EFC and is mostly grants. I really don't like saying I told you so ;)</p>
<p>It is expensive considering the small cost of transmitting a small electronic data base. It would be fairer to charge more for the initial inputing and file storage and let people buy blocks of three or four school applications. Fairer for the consumer but not for the corporation. </p>
<p>Should the College Board be recognized as a monopoly and have it's practices including pricing regulated? Should textbook publishers be forced to explain why you can buy the same textbook at half price in Europe? I don't think the current administration in Washington would agree with these ideas.</p>
<p>I think getting a clear understanding of colleges and the cost of application during Junior year, and the establishment of a priority list early on is essential. My family looked over our student's list and gave her a limit of how many schools she could apply to, with the understanding that the list had to include at least one safety school that she would like to attend. There were easily five more college she could have applied to if she had more time, and was willing to ask teachers for recommendations for, and if we could afford it. It is all about choices.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Thanks Mr. B, this is exactly what I was trying to say when I posted the following. Your explanation is much clearer and concise than mine :), so I hope the other adults will understand that this is the only issue the students who posted on this thread were trying to make from the very beginning. </p>
<p>"So if you need to file a css profile, its back to CB. $23 for EACH profile (not $18 btw) -- its the same information, come on, just how many times do they have to "process" it? Really, its just a PDF file of your information which they pass on electronically -- its not like CB does the actual number crunching or use FedEx for delivery each time. IMO the service doesn't merit the charge, especially in the case of the profile, where CB is just a "middle man".</p>
<p>I agree with you that it all comes down to choices. You said it in a very nice way, thank you!</p>
<p>Because the cost of processing, just like the cost of tuition, like the cost of everything else is based on what the market will bear. Unless a competitor comes forth and offers this same type of service at a less expensive cost, if you are looking for institutional funds, you gotta go through them.</p>
<p>Do you think that the colleges should charge on flat processing fee to each student that would cover SATI & II scores, and the profile? They could all get together and excerise their power to obtain some type of volume discount as end users to the service. But what is a fair price?</p>
<p>Hey if you need to renew your aid you have to go back to CB.</p>
<p>Fastlane thank you for your kind comments.<br>
sybbie, the price is based on what the market will bear, and the complaint is that the price of this service is excessively higher than the actual cost (to the provider) of producing the extra electronic copies...I think a flat rate would make sense and I think a central common application/profile would make lives less complicated, if the colleges could control themselves from asking one extra question beyond the common application form.</p>
<p>For those of you who feel the cost is high- consider that five profiles almost equals one pair of air jordans. Which represents a greater value?</p>
<p>The College Board is a not-for-profit membership association whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the association is composed of more than 4,500 schools, colleges, universities, and other educational organizations.</p>
<p>Reference:
<a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/about/association/association.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.collegeboard.com/about/association/association.html</a></p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes, I think the flat rate idea would be a good and fair idea. I think it would be comparable to the service that CB provides to the colleges that participate in IDOC.
As far as what I consider a "fair" price -- since $5.00 per IDOC packet is what CB charges the colleges, for first time applicants, I would make it easy and charge students the same for filing the CSS Profile.</p>
<p>The following refers to the fee that CB charges the colleges for IDOC:</p>
<p>"Institutions are charged $6.50 for each documentation packet processed for a renewal applicant and $5.00 for each first-time applicant packet."</p>
<p>Reference:
<a href="https://finaidonline.collegeboard.com/pi_aboutidoc.jsp%5B/url%5D">https://finaidonline.collegeboard.com/pi_aboutidoc.jsp</a></p>
<p>Fastlane, looks like you've been doing some research! Very interesting information! I just wanted to let you know that I admire the effort you have put in to supporting your views.</p>
<p>BJs mom - </p>
<p>Go, single moms, who are the toughest of the tough
Making these decisions by yourself is really rough
Uneasy lies the worried head that wears the rusty crown
Fight on, even on your knees, don't let 'em get you down!</p>
<p>(Yulsie's fight song for us single moms - yo ho ho and a bottle of rum - which I will need before April 1 - Aruba, anyone? - the reason for merit aid, better vactions!)</p>
<p>BJsMom, I second you on that one. I admire, not only FastLane, but everyone else here who has posted their ideas about this, what seems to be, rather touchy subject. I don't know about anyone else, but I can truly say that I have learned a lot from what others had to say. I have realized that researching is one of the most important parts of applying to college. Indeed, I have done a good deal of it, but it almost seems that you can never do enough.</p>
<p>Fastlane-not all of those schools REQUIRE the profile. I know at least that wells does not even use it except to estimate aid for ED applicants</p>
<p>Lindsaylu -</p>
<p>I know that this has turned out to be a really long thread and maybe you haven't had the time to read it from beginning to end -- it has taken many turns. The point that we were ORIGINALLY discussing was the COST of the Profile, especially for those students who had to file it for several schools, for whatever reason. The students that replied were complaining about the fees HAD ALREADY filed the profiles, it was not a matter of what they could do instead, or how they could avoid the fees -- it was a done deal -- we were exchanging ideas of how we felt AFTER THE FACT. The list of schools that you refer to were listed only to support the opinion that the number of schools that USE the profile has increased, and as a result students are faced with additional expenses. Even if a school, like you indicate, only "uses" it for ED applicants, that ED applicant has to pay for that profile.</p>
<p>Just reading the title you can see that the OP never asked for any alternatives to paying for the profile -- he/she was only asking if anyone else felt the same "that the CSS Profile service was expensive" -- the thread then took a life of its own. </p>
<p>I still stand by my opinion that it is unfair for the CB to charge students $23/profile to provide colleges with a single PDF file containing our finacial information, while they (CB) only charges colleges $5.00/IDOC packet which provides them with copies of our W2's & tax return information and other documents such as the B/F Supplement which the colleges use for verification. IMHO, the students are getting the worst end of the deal here.</p>
<p>On the CollegeBoard website, Rosemont College is listed as one of the schools requiring a CSS report. I contacted them and it turns out that they DO NOT require it. </p>
<p>I would STRONGLY advise checking before you spend the money.</p>