<p>CSS profile help please :)</p>
<p>How to answer this question?
Enter the amount your parents think they will be able to pay for your 2012-13 college expenses.</p>
<p>Using EFC amount from CollegeBoard or any amount you want to pay?</p>
<p>Will this amount impact the need-base Financial Aid my kid receive from the college?
Will this amount impact the merit-base scholarship my kid receive from the college?</p>
<p>Can I write different amounts for different colleges?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>It really won’t make any difference. If they based what they give (merit or need) on what people say they can afford, everyone would get more aid by saying a low number. They decide what you can afford to contribute based on your income and assets. I don’t know why they even ask really.</p>
<p>Thanks swimcatsmom</p>
<p>" I don’t know why they even ask really." anyone else knows?</p>
<p>Maybe college would see how much you are interested in the the college? more money means more interest? I guess.</p>
<p>Agree with swimcatsmom. Since the CSS goes to all colleges (with only specific supplements sent to individual colleges,) it’s not about the level of your interest. If you are dependent on sbstantial aid, just make sure your child has colleges in mind that have the right finaid policies.</p>
<p>Thanks lookingforward</p>
<p>Is it possible to send CSS to a college, and then change “amount your parents think they will be able to pay” to another college? (for dream schools I’m willing to pay more, for safe schools I expect merit-base full ride)</p>
<p>It’s my 1st time to fill up CSS. no idea.</p>
<p>Far as I know, the only way to change the CSS is manually and then mail or fax it to the school. (Fafsa can be edited online and resubmitted.) The schools I am familiar with review finaid after admisisons decisions are made. And, focus far more on the guts of your financial situation- income/assets and some expenses. They run their own formula to determine what they think you can pay, regardless of whether this is what you think you can scrape together. They are required to apply the same forumula equally to all aid applicants. After that, they can mix and match grants, work study loans, according to their polices. So, I am not sure how it matters. </p>
<p>Under a special review (after the initial aid offer,) there are legit ways they can make adjustments- but that doesn’t seem to apply to you, yet. That’s about families whose circumstances changed or who feel some issue wasn’t properly taken into consideration.</p>
<p>This is a quote from last year, from a poster working in finaid:
*That’s my personal favorite for “most useless question on CSS” award … like it makes a difference to the colleges what we think we can pay! </p>
<p>I just put in the amount I think I could swing … it doesn’t have any bearing on anything, as far as I can tell. *</p>
<p>THANK YOU VERY MUCH for posting this question.
My dh and I filled out the CSS form last week since my dd applied ED to her first choice and it was required for us to fill out within a week of her applying.
Anyway, my dh and I filled in this question, very low, and I have been stressing ever since we hit submit.
I am just going to let it go and see what happens come the end of November when she gets her answer from her ED school.
Thank you again for posting.</p>
<p>It is a stupid question. I just put my federal EFC in and moved to the next question. I mean gosh, most sane people when asked “how much do you think you can pay” are going to low ball the number and no college is going to “use” that number for anything meaningful so why even have it.</p>
<p>Sorta like the used car salesperson asking you to name your price, with the full realization that you might name a price well above what she is willing to sell you the car for.</p>
<p>(With apologies to all the used car salespeople on CC.)</p>
<p>This does seem like a crazy question.</p>
<p>I can only imagine that it might be useful at “need aware” schools and if they see a high income student who has indicated that the family will only pay a small fraction of the cost, then they might reject that student. </p>
<p>Or, maybe the reverse…if a family indicates that they will pay “full freight”, then maybe that provides an edge in some way??? Some people with modest incomes have “other sources” for paying for college, so by saying that they’ll pay “full freight” then a school might not reject them based on their income info. </p>
<p>For the rest of us, it seems nutty.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Or have reason to believe their situations will change for the better in the year following the reported year, when the bills must actually be paid.</p>
<p>It’s not a stupid question. I couldn’t put in our EFC. We can’t afford our Fafsa EFC. And, we live on a tight budget. </p>
<p>But, yes: IF a need-aware school actually digs into the Fafsa and CSS before making an admit decision, I suppose they could like the kid better who can pay more. Do they actually look at the finaid app in the Admissions office? My experiences are with needs-blind schools.</p>
<p>@annasdad and mom2collegekids,</p>
<p>used cars~ haha… but 100 used cars have 100 different prices, right? why does ONE CSS price fit all colleges? Once the CSS profile is set up, we cannot change the bid for each college.</p>
<p>This question cannot test the interest level for an individual college, but maybe can tell something about the parent support level for kid’s higher education. Some rich people who can pay full tuition just offer $10-20K/year to their kid, they write on CSS and they do mean it. Some less fortune parents maybe offer much more than EFC to support their kid.</p>
<p>@lookingforward,
rumor said they look at borderline students’ finaid app, idk.
All of the admission notification dates are after colleges received CSS or CSS &Fafsa.</p>
<p>I talk too much, but I still don’t know how much I should write down. I want “salesman” give me an offer first ~</p>
<p>Oops, I thought they meant OP’s question was stupid. Sorry.</p>