<p>I am submitting my CSS profile page tonight, but it asks me to pay 137$ for my app and schools all together. My family doesn't make alot of money, so I thought I would get waivers or something. What do I do? I can't pay for this. </p>
<p>How many schools are you submitting CSS profile to? If you can pay for all the application fees and score reports, it would be hard to believe you cannot pay for the CSS profiles.</p>
<p>@billcsho My family makes under 30,000$, so I don’t know how I do not qualify. </p>
<p>and I am applying to 8</p>
<p>ohh wait I got it. I accidentally put that my family have a 99250$ real esate that they owned lol</p>
<p>Even if you are eligible for waivers, I think that they only cover 6 schools. You may still need to pay for your final 2 colleges</p>
<p>If you really think you cannot afford the CSS profile fee, narrow down to less schools (e.g. those with better chances or you have been accepted). </p>
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<p>Oh, for goodness sakes - that’s absurd!</p>
<p>mbomb99 - First, make sure you’ve entered accurate numbers in the Profile, and see if that qualifies you for an automatic fee waiver. If it does, that should significantly reduce your cost.</p>
<p>But that is NOT your only option! Whether you have two schools left to pay for on your own, or all eight, you can contact each college directly and ask if that college would be willing to provide you a CSS Profile fee waiver code. Each code is good for that school only, so you’d need one for each school you’re applying to that isn’t already covered by the CSS Profile automatic fee waiver.</p>
<p>Not all schools make fee waiver codes available, but many do. So, after you’ve found out whether or not you qualify for an automatic fee waiver, what you need to do is send an email to each school’s financial aid office explaining that paying the CSS Profile fee is a hardship and ask if the school can provide you with a fee waiver code. (If you qualify for the automatic waiver, and that covers six schools, then you’ll only need two fee waiver codes, so contact the schools one at a time until you find two that are willing to provide you with waiver codes.)</p>
<p>For some students, paying the CSS Profile fe is a significant hardship, even though the family does not have a low enough income to qualify for the CSS Profile automatic fee waiver. And that’s just what these fee waiver codes are for –> to make the financial aid process affordable for low income students.</p>
<p>So, if you do not qualify for the automatic fee waiver, or your remaining fees are still unaffordable even with the automatic waiver, contact your colleges directly and ask about fee waiver codes.</p>
<p>Agree Dodgersmom, but I can’t totally disagree with billcsho, since CSS Profile colleges are some of the most expensive in the country. Hopefully the lower income family, which is what is being implied if the Profile application fees are beyond reach, has really investigated that “list” of applications and run financial aid calculators.</p>
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<p>They also offer the most generous financial aid in the country . . . which is why they most certainly should be on the list of any qualified low-income applicant!</p>
<p>Students who need financial aid cannot, like full pay students, simply pick their favorite 2 - 4 schools and be done. Because a dozen different schools might provide a dozen very different financial aid packages, students who need FA should apply to as many schools as possible.</p>
<p>Yes, this makes it difficult for the very low income applicant, but that’s the purpose of the CSS fee waiver codes: to make the process affordable for lower income applicants.</p>
<p>If a low-income applicant is barred from applying for financial aid at those select schools that actually meet need, that doesn’t leave them a lot of options, does it?</p>
<p>Of course, one may apply to more schools if has fee waivers. But be realistic, applying to many reach schools does not really multiply the chance. For most people, there is a cost associated with each school application. The $16 per additional profile fee is relatively small when compare to the application fee. If you have a fee waiver, then you can definitely afford that. But if you cannot afford it (i.e. no waiver and family refuse to pay more), there is no other way but to limit the number of applications.</p>
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<p>Depends on if you mean academic or financial reaches. For generous financial reaches with the needed academic qualifications, aid packages can vary greatly. More generous schools on the list increases chances of admission and increases the chance there could be at least one unexpectedly generous finaid offer.</p>
<p>For those students with stats to get into those schools that tend to be the most generous is financial aid, it makes sense to give it a go, I agree with Dodgersmom that a student such a category should ask find out what schools would give individual waivers and carefully use the auto waivers for those schools that do not out any and get the school waiver codes from those schools that do. Certainly, the more schools one applies to, the more options there are until one hits so many of them that the application process is compromised. There is no telling which school might come up we. My kids all applied to at least 10 schools and there were always surprises in the batch, some good and some not. </p>
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<p>But that’s my point, billcsho, there is another way - requesting individual college fee waiver codes.</p>
<p>And, for the record, I don’t think anyone here is talking about a family that’s “refusing" to pay more - this is about low-income families that simply cannot afford to pay more.</p>
<p>And, although you may find it appropriate that the options for a high achieving, low-income student be limited in accordance with their finances, thank goodness that many, many of the most generous schools don’t agree! A low-income student has plenty of hurdles to overcome . . . not being able to apply for financial aid should not be one of them.</p>
<p>It may increase the chance (at least would not decrease), but it will not multiply. For students with need, one should always check the NPC before applying and consider mostly schools that meet the need. That comparison should be done ahead of application. </p>
<p>what @dodgersmom said.</p>
<p>Yeah, I submitted and paid, and thought ‘well, THEY obviously weren’t impressed.’ Hopefully the schools don’t link waiver eligibility with eligibility for institutional aid…otherwise Georgetown and Cornell are pretty much out of the question.</p>
<p>^^ Do not worry because they do not link them for the most obvious reason. What if grandparents or a church group helped you out with the fees? That assistance does not change your overall need position.</p>