<p>Hi All,
Just found out I have to fill out the CSS form for my son.. as 4 of his colleges require it. 17 pages long .. ugh.. Anyways, it says at the last page which questions will be used for each college... which is only like 1 page of the 17 pages.. But, I assume I still have to fill out every page.. not just the questions that are required? Is the FASFA form this involved too?
Thanks..</p>
<p>It is a pain but it is worth it.</p>
<p>The profile form asks more questions than the fafsa. Please recognize that for most people, 3/4 of the questions will simply be answered with a 0. Always type in 0 as opposed to leaving a box blank.</p>
<p>Also, when you do the form again next year, last year’s answers will re-appear, so you only need to fill in the items that have changed.</p>
<p>Thanks. Am I understanding this right… some colleges use the CSS to help determine what kind of aid they will give you instead of using FASA?</p>
<p>FAFSA is a federal form and determines eligibility for federal grants and loans. FAFSA is used alone by many of the public colleges. The CSS is a third party provider form that many of the private colleges and a few of the public colleges use to determine need. Some private colleges utilize their own form along with or separate from the CSS form. All colleges will ask for FAFSA for eligibility for federal monies. The dates these various forms are due differ. It is important to look at the financial aid pages for each college an application is submitted and note which forms are required and when they are due.</p>
<p>Schools using the CSS use it to determine need for distributing their own FA monies. The College Board web site will tell you which schools require which forms and what the deadlines are, though they also tell you to check each school’s web sites directly to be sure. You can complete the Institutional Methodology to compute your likely need for schools requiring the CSS. The Federal Methodology is for schools using FAFSA or to get an idea of extent of eligibility for federal funds.</p>
<p>17 pages? Are you doing the CSS Profile online? I completed it for seven years and never was it 17 pages long. There were tons of questions, yes, but completing it online and printing it out…not more than a half dozen pages in total. Perhaps it’s changed in the last three years.</p>
<p>Anyway…my point…do this ONLINE…don’t do it as a paper copy.</p>
<p>As noted by everyone else…the CSS Profile is used by schools to determine how they will award THEIR institutional need based financial aid. </p>
<p>The FAFSA is used primarily to award federally funded need based aid. </p>
<p>If your school requires the Profile, in addition to the FAFSA, you must complete it to have your financial aid application complete.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for their help… I am going to do it online… but I printed it out to fill out it first and i had my accountant look it over and it was 17 pages printed. At the end it says for example Boston college will receive answers to the following question codes …and list the codes… Does that mean they will not see the answers to the other questions to help determine their FA for us?</p>
<p>Boston College will use all of the information on the regular part of the CSS Profile. They also will use somehow the information they request on those supplemental questions. It’s not JUST the supplemental questions that provide them with the info they use, if that is what you are asking. The rest of the Profile has a vast amount of information. Most of need based aid is awarded based on your income and asset information.</p>
<p>Thanks Thumper… first time through all this… by the time my 4th was is ready to go I will hopefully be an expert. </p>
<p>Question about real estate. Let say we are 5% owners in a building worth 1 million dollars. That building pays us rent per month that we declare on our income… I assume we have to put down we own real estate worth 50,000. I wonder how they figure that into our FA… I mean I just cant go out tomorrow and sell that 5% for 50,000… ugh… playing these numbers game…</p>
<p>One of the reasons why the profile asks about real estate is because they may feel that a person should take out a home equity loan to fund college. You are correct that a 5% investment may not be liquid, but I believe it should still be reported as current market value of your share.</p>
<p>The fafsa cannot be filled out until after Jan. 1. Many colleges want it submitted by Feb. 1.</p>
<p>Watch those “priority” financial aid deadlines very carefully. They vary from college to college. You can submit estimated information on a profile to a college, and then email or mail updated information later to the financial aid office of that college.</p>