So my DD is applying early to a school that requires the FAFSA and either the CSS or their own form. I chose to do their form, since of course I’m ever hopeful that she’ll get in and we’ll be done and also because the less I pay to the College Board the better, right?
But their from is incredibly simple and short - barely asked anything at all - and now I’m concerned that their may be a strategic advantage to showing a more in-depth picture?
Any thoughts? Is less more in this case?
Which school is at issue here?
Less is better. If you have been able to save anything it won’t be held against you.
Not necessarily less is better. There will be some consistency in the information requested to disburse aid. The school will not just ask you to provide more paperwork and you may end up doing more back and forth in explaining your financial situation
Each college and university chooses which pieces of the CSS data it will use. Chances are that all their system would receive from the College Board is the data that is needed for their own form.
There are some schools that use their own short form instead of the Profile. If that is an option…you can choose that option.
How do we know that savings isn’t asked on the short form this college uses? It might be!
In this case it wasn’t – for @BelknapPoint it’s the University of Chicago.
University of Chicago is fine…use the FAFSA and the University of Chicago form. That will be just fine. Chicago transitioned to this so that the costs of the Profile would not get in the way of applying to their school. They have given their own form as an option for several years now.
Their form is free…use it.