Hi I am a single mother, I filed Head of Household in 2018 and CSS is asking me amount of Earned Income Credit from my taxes that year. But this information is not required (no asterisk). Does it behoove me to give that number or not?
And for that matter should I enter all the information asked or stick to only the required items? I don’t have anything to hide but I don’t know how all this is assessed, so I don’t want to “overshare” if it’s not necessary and is going to hurt aid potential.
Are you applying for yourself, or for your child? Is this for one school, or for many?
Typically, the CSS profile schools will ask a lot of questions, but they also tend to be the ones that have more aid available to spread around.
Because of this, I tend think it’s best to try to give them everything they ask for on the CSS profile.
If you’re getting an Earned Income Credit, that might imply they have a shortcut the process at some schools, and that you immediately qualify for top aid.