Just hoping to get some straight answers, have been googling like crazy but cannot find the answer im looking for. Im a UK citizen and resident with a son who lives in the US. Ive been asked to complete a CSS profile (not fafsa) as a non-custodial parent to help apply for financial aid for his education.
I understand that this is to help reach an ‘expected family contribution’ figure so that a grant or loan(?) can be offered. As i understand it, my son may be offered a grant which doesnt need to be repaid, or possibly a loan which would need to be repaid. My question is, by completing the CSS form am I legally obligating myself to anything(i understand that i obviously need to present truthfull facts and figures) , in particular am i obligated to repay any of the loan itself if my son is unable (as I understand it - its the student who takes out the loan, not the parent), im also unsure if CSS offers loans, or just grants and scholarships. I find it odd that to complete the css profile I have to list property, equity and even information about my current partner - yet I also just nominate how much I am willing to contribute so I dont understand why my assets are being taken into account when I am not necessarily willing to use their value to contribute (is this purely to calculate a figure of what i ‘should’ contribute in the eyes of CSS)? I will be contributing to my son’s education but this would be regardless of whether or not he was applying for aid, this is more a question of - is there a negative side to applying with a CSS profile. These questions may seem obvious but the way we pay fees in the uk is slightly different so this is unfarmiliar territorry for myself. Thank you in advance.
The Profile is done so that the college can determine your level of financial need and determine what need based aid they will award to your child.
You are not obligated to accept any financial aid offered by a college. However, unless you complete this form where required, your student won’t even be offered a financial aid package because your financial aid application will be incomplete.
Re: loans…there are a very small number of colleges that do offer loans to students from the college.BUT the vast majority do not do so. Your son is not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident so he is not eligible to receive any federally funded loans. You aren’t a U.S. citizen so you are not eligible to receive any federally funded loans either….so I’m not sure what “loans” you are talking about.
Re: the question about “what can you pay”. You do need to complete that because it’s on the form….but really, THAT question is not used to compute need based aid. Your income, assets, etc are what colleges use.
Re: your assets. No college expects you to use all of your assets…but your assets are used in the calculation.
And yes, if you are currently remarried, your spouse’s income, assets, etc are also included. Because it’s a “family” contribution and the spouse is a family member.
And lastly…the CSS Profile is a financial aid application for that is submitted to colleges. The Profile does not award a dime of financial aid. The colleges use the data on it and the colleges determine what aid the college will provide.
Hi there, filling out the CSS profile is allowing universities to get a sense of your ability to pay as a parent. Each university uses this information differently to come up with a number it thinks is fair for your family. (For example, some will count the value of your primary residence as an asset, others will not, and some might count a proportion of it relative to your income). Universities will consider assets of a current spouse. You are not obliged to accept a proposal from a college so by filling out the CSS profile. Loans might be proposed as part of the financial aid package. You do not have to accept them. CSS does not offer anything…it is each separate university that makes a proposal for what they expect from your family. If you want need based aid from a university that requires the CSS form, you have to fill it out. Some universities do not require CSS, but the universities that provide the most need based aid tend to because they want to make sure it is going to families that really need it. One last thing in case you do not know: need based aid is different than merit aid. Merit is given regardless of financial need. Some universities give both types and others give only need based aid. The CSS profile is used to determine need based aid.
Thank you for your reply, a lot of good info here thank you. To clarify, my son is a US citizen so am presuming he would be able to accept a loan offer, and so im wondering that by supplying my details to CSS profle does that mean a loan could be accepted on my behalf - through css profile, federal or institutional. I say ‘my behalf’ here, as im unsure who would actually sign a loan agreement, one of the parents? the student?
As far as im aware, my sons mom has already applied for FAFSA, so another question I guess i have is - can info supplied to the CSS profile from myself (non-custodial parent CSS profile) be used to obtain a loan by any other means.
I am also not married to my current partner, the only legally binding factor(here in the UK) between us is that the house is mortgaged in both our names. This is mainly why i raise questions regarding the CSS profile requirement to know her info as well as mine, I do recall however seeing an area mentioned in a css profile video where you can specify % ownership which I guess adds more relevancy.
I guess my main concern in all this - because its so different than how aid is applied for in the UK, is - is my information ‘safe’ and am i in control, ie am i likely to find myself being named on a loan agreement by simply filling out CSS profile.
I think the answer to that is an unqualified, very strong NO. The only way you can end up with a loan in your name is to sign the loan papers yourself.
As mentioned by others in this thread, your child can sign to take the $5500 DSL loan in his/her own name. The child’s mother can agree to sign a Parent-Plus loan in her name. The child’s mother and the child can agree to co-sign some kind of loan where they are both responsible. But the only way you can end up legally responsible for repaying a loan is if you yourself sign to take out (or co-sign) the loan.
There is a separate issue of whether the student (or the other parent) can see the details of your CSS Profile. I think that unless you provide your password to them, they will be unable to access your CSS Profile. Your data will simply be compiled with theirs during the assessment and the school will calculate how much money it thinks the three of you (and your new spouses if there are any) can afford to pay for the student’s education.
Another thing to keep in mind is your child’s financial need. Perhaps I misunderstood, but it sounds like you aren’t contributing any funds to their education? Is your child’s mother in a financial position to cover the full cost of attendance or qualify for personal loans to cover the full cost of attendance. What ends up happening in a lot of these instances is the non custodial parent’s earnings/assets make the child ineligible to receive aid, regardless of whether the non custodial parent contributes any funds. IOW your child may have to turn down the admissions offers based on finances. Have you communicated with your child and their mother how much you are willing to contribute to COA? It could save a lot of heartache down the line.
There are questions about anyone else helping to pay for college. So if an uncle, aunt, grandparent is paying, they want to know about those funds, but I do not think it gets too detailed.
There are two types of federally funded college loans.
The Direct Loan. This is in the name of your student only…NOT the parent.
Parent Plus Loans. These are in the name of the parent, not the student.
In both cases, you are not automatically given a loan of any kind. That never happens here. You need to make the decision to TAKE the loans yourselves. If you decide no…then you are not just given a loan.
Is that what you are asking? If you think by just completing the financial aid forms, you will be assigned a loan whether you want one or not….the answer is a resounding NO NO NO.