CSS profile vs FAFSA urgent

Paying for College
1

<p>could anyone clarify this for me? I need to send in the CSS to Stanford by Nov 15.</p>

<p>My parents are dabating whether to fill it out since we're most likely not gonna get any need based aid. However, even if we don't get any grants we want to get federal loans like the Stafford, etc and we're wondering if the only way to get those loans is through FAFSA/CSS.</p>

<p>Do we still use the CSS and FAFSA to get JUST fed loans? I don't want them to think we're greedy by trying to get need based aid or anything.</p>

2

<p>Loans = need based aid.</p>

<p>You need to do it.</p>

3

<p>Flippy is half right. Those with NEED are eligible for subsidized Stafford loans. Those without need are eligible for UNsubsidized stafford loans. But I thought these federal loans were offered to those completing the FAFSA. The Profile is for institutional methodology which can include these loans. Perhaps Sybbie can comment on this.</p>

4

<p>Thumper, </p>

<p>You are doing fine.</p>

<p>The only thing the FAFSA does is qualify you for Federal aid (pell/ seog, subsidized/unsubsidized loans). </p>

<p>The profile is mostly used for schools that use an institutional methodology for giving out their money or combination of Federal + institutional </p>

<p>to the OP, I would suggest that your parents run their number through the FA calculator (there is one on the college board. Use both the federal and the institutional methodology. </p>

<p>It unless you are really well off and money is not an issue, it may be worth the $18 to file the CSS profile, because you may get something (which would be gravy since you are expecting to pay full freight) or you may have a change in life circumstance where you may need some FA and Stanford will already have the paperwork if you need a financial review.</p>

5

<p>are you applying for ed\ea- or does stanford require everyone to send css y nov 15 th?</p>

6

<p>IF the school gives you a specific date in which to apply for fiancial aid, and you need their money, it is in your best interest to have your information submitted by their deadline.</p>

<p>Also if you are an international student applying EA to stanford, keep in mind that Stanford is not need blind for international students so you will have to file what ever FA information they request by the deadline to even be considered for admissions.</p>

7

<p>Can anyone help answer this? If you fill out the CSS Profile and your estimated contribution is $24,000 using the institutional methodology which is $6,000 more than FAFSA...the school's room & board is $45,000 and they meet 100% of need...what is an example of possible monies you might get for aid?</p>

8

<p>This sounds like one of those problems about trains moving toward each other at 30 mph... You probably know all the caveats, like the one that the college's calculation of your EFC won't necessarily be the same as the Profile's estimate of your EFC. But leaving that aside, at a PROFILE school you might be awarded an aid package of $45,000 minus $24,000, or $21,000, through a combination of grants, loans, etc.</p>

9

<p>Remember, schools using the Profile can take the information from it, and use it as they please. They are awarding institutional money...money that is theirs...and they can dispurse it using any formula(s) they choose. Feto, there really isn't a way to answer your question. Some schools meet full need, others do not. Some schools cap home equity, some do not. Some schools give loans, some do not. The variables are just too numerous. It is very important, however, to remember that the FAFSA (federal methodology) and Profile (institutional methodology) can yield very different results. And due to the variables....even schools that "meet full need" can make finaid offers that vary by thousands of dollars (no kidding). Sybbie has a great explanation of that on some threads here.</p>

10

<p>Here it is...</p>

<p>The difference between financial aid using the federal methodology and institutional methodolody (schools that use the profile or their own FA forms) are as follows:</p>

<p>The fafsa and the CSS profile use 2 different set of methodologies when calculating your EFC. </p>

<p>At minimum you file the FAFSA (at almost every school) to determine your eligibility for federal aid (Pell/ seog grants, stafford and perkins loans). Most public univeristies will just require the fafsa (the exception may be UVA, UNC- CH, Mich and a few others which may require their own forms)</p>

<p>The CSS profile is used at different colleges that distribute their own institutional aid (Many of these schools have much deeper pockets).</p>

<p>Many schools that use a federal methodology to determine EFC will require only the FAFSA. </p>

<p>Schools that use an instutional methodology or a combination of the 2 will require the CSS profile or their own FA forms.</p>

<p>Differences between the IM and FM models are</p>

<p>IM collects information on estimated academic year family income, medical expenses, elementary and secondary school tuition and unusual circumstances. FM omits these questions.</p>

<p>IM considers a fuller range of family asset information, while FM ignores assets of siblings, all assets of certain families with less than $50,000 of income, and both home and family farm equity.</p>

<p>FM defines income as the “adjusted gross income” on federal tax returns, plus various categories of untaxed income. IM includes in total income any paper depreciation, business, rental or capital losses which artificially reduce adjusted gross income.</p>

<p>FM does not assume a minimum student contribution to education; IM expects the student, as primary beneficiary of the education, to devote some time each year to earning money to pay for education.</p>

<p>FM ignores the noncustodial parent in cases of divorce or separation; IM expects parents to help pay for education, regardless of current marital status.</p>

<p>FM and IM apply different percentages to adjust the parental contribution when multiple siblings are simultaneously enrolled in college, and IM considers only siblings enrolled in undergraduate programs.</p>

<p>The IM expected family share represents a best estimate of a family’s capacity (relative to other families) to absorb, over time, the costs of education. It is not an assessment of cash on hand, a value judgment about how much a family should be able to use current income, or a measure of liquidity. The final determinations of demonstrated need and awards rest with the University and are based upon a uniform and consistent treatment of family circumstances.</p>

<p>Except in the most extraordinary circumstances, Colleges classifies incoming students as dependent upon parents for institutional aid purposes, even though some students may meet the federal definition of “independence.”</p>

<p>Students enrolling as dependent students are considered dependent throughout their undergraduate years when need for institutional scholarships is determined.</p>

<p>For institutional aid purposes a student may not “declare” independence due to attainment of legal age, internal family arrangements, marriage or family disagreements.</p>

<p>Your COA (cost of attendance) is tuition, room board, books travel expenses and some misc. expenses associated with attending college.</p>

11

<p>Foto, from the FAFSA, you will be eligible for government funds. I believe at your level, loans are all you can get since you exceed the Pell grant numbers. If your state has some aid available, depending on the rules, you may get something there as well--it depends on your state. That'll be the starting point for your package. </p>

<p>The school, if it uses that Profile, for its aid and guarantees 100% of need, it will define need as $21K for you. It does not use the FAFSA need figure. However, whatever you can get from those FAFSA numbers from federal and your state programs is usually the first piece of aid. The college will then come up with whatever else you need to total $21K, but it is totally up to them how they give it to you. Usually, you will get some combination of grants and loans. Depending on the loan officer, the particular college's methodology, how much they want you, will determine the package. There are some schools that make it a point to keep loans down low. In that case, you are more likely to get grant money. You can look up averages of what they have given in a past year, by checking USNews & World report, either the website (you have to pay) or their Ultimate Guide which is a book.</p>

12

<p>Thank you! My S will be a junior next year but we will have #2 in college also. I just hope that we get some help from his school. We have paid full freight for 2 years because without 2 in college, our EFC would be $36000 and our Profile would be $48000 which covered the cost prior to it being halved. We are just hoping for some grant money!! Any amount would help. #1 is on Dean's List at very competitive school so maybe that will help?!?</p>

13

<p>Hi foto, We were in the same boat as you with #1. He was our only in college for three years. He did have a decent merit aid award, but even with that, we were paying a LOT of money for his private school education per year. When #2 enrolled in college (during #1's senior year of college), we did ALL of the finaid applications again...yes, Profile, FAFSA, and two years of tax returns with supporting documents. Our EFC was 1/2 of what it had been. #1's school does not meet full need, and of course they had no reason whatsoever to increase his merit aid...he was a senior. It wasn't like he was going to transfer. Well...he got an additional $500 for that last year. Hey, every penny counts. #1 was also a Dean's list student. If your DS's school meets full need, you will probably do a bit better than we did. BTW...#2's school also doesn't meet full need, and she didn't get a gigantic financial aid package either.</p>

14

<p>We filed the FAFSA but didn’t meet the deadline for the CSS Profile. Does anyone know if you can submit it late?</p>

15

<p>Disqus…call your college(s) and ask them. They will tell you whether you’ve REALLY missed their deadlines or not.</p>

16

<p>I am currently a junior in high school and hope to apply to competitve schools like stanford, ucla, uc davis. I am still confused about the CSS/Fafsa stuff.
Do i have to fill out both and send whatever the colleges requests?
Does filling out both get more Fin aid?
Thanks, im first child in college process so its very difficult</p>

17

<p>Here is how the financial aid situation works for colleges, for the most part. If you want aid or accessibility to government loans and for certain program, and sometimes even merit money, you have to fill out FAFSA. What that does is qualify you for federal, and most state funds. FAFSA gives you a number called the EFC (Expected Family Contribution) which qualifies you for the PELL grant if that number is low enough, and might give you some loan subsidies. You are generally allowed to borrow up to $5500 a year on your own without a credit check. That is all the EFC guarantees you. The EFC is heavily dependent on income numbers. Primary home equity, non custodial parent’s financials, and siblings bank accounts, qualified plan funds like 401K are not included in the assets considered. FAFSA cannot be filled out until Jan 1 of the year before the school year starts if you are starting in the fall. It is based on the income numbers for the year ending the 12/31 the day before that New Year Day, so many times families have to send in an estimated one or get taxes done quickly and fill in the FAFSA as soon as possible, before the school’s deadline.</p>

<p>Most schools that use FAFSA only for financial aid, do not meet 100% need for their students and do not guarantee to do so. They may meet the need for the kids they most want but simply gap the rest. Most schools are need blind to need. They just don’t meet it.</p>

<p>There are schools that make an effort to meet 100% of need and some that guarantee to do so. Those schools tend to want more information, and they use a different definition of need than the FAFSA EFC. They compute their own figure for their own funds that they are giving out. You still need to fill out the FAFSA for these schools as they often will integrate their packages with the government aid, and they want the vetting that FAFSA provides. But they will often take into account other things such as home equity values, Non custodial parent financials and a number of other things. So their Figure for what they think your family should pay is not necessarily equal or even close to the EFC in many cases. Some of such schools are also not need blind in admissions. They don’t want to accept kids that they cannot provide a decent amount of aid for, so they just turn them down. There are not many schools that are both need blind in admissions and meet 100% of need, and also do not include loans or cap them in their packages. </p>

<p>I suggest you play around with some EFC estimators which will give you some idea what your family is expected to pay by federal standards. Usually that number is going to be lower, sometimes a lot lower than what PROFILE will calculate. That gives you a good starting point as to what might be expected of your family. </p>

<p>If you are a Californean, there is a state system of financial aid for the UCs and Cal States that you should familarize yourself with. You should also pick up a basic book on the financial aid process, and read the websites of the colleges that interest you to start getting familiar with the jargon and the way things work with those schools. You also need to read up on the Blue and Gold, Cal Grants and other California programs.</p>

18

<p>Thanks for the in depth explanation. Yes, i plan to stay in CA for college to pay less. If out of state is cheaper then i’ll go out of state. (duh) I went on UCLA’s website but got very little to no useful info on scholarships, same with uc davis.
Do university scholarships just magically go to you after applying there and Fafsa?
or you have to separately apply?</p>

19

<p>For the most part, colleges automatically consider you for all of the scholarships that they have, but when you apply to a school, make sure that you check for any that require a separate application. For example, Georgia Tech has the prestigious Presidents Scholarships (or something like that) and you do need to file a separate app for it and get your Georgia Tech application in quite early if you want to be eligible. So is the case for a number of merit programs. I am not aware of any of the UCs having such awards. But you should check.</p>

<p>Also, make sure you know what you have to do to be considered for any of those financial aid awards. You do not automatically get NY state TAP or other need program awards by just filing the FAFSA. The easiest thing to do with TAP is to link to it when filling out the FAFSA. Otherwise you have to file for it separately. I have no idea how the California state aid works. It’s important you get that information, do what you need to do and do it in a timely matter to get the maximum consideration for aid.</p>