<p>Do I need a profile for both since CSS costs money?</p>
<p>You need to check the colleges,to,which you are applying for financial,aid. If they require the CSS Profile, you will need to send it to them. This can be easily found on the financial aid websites. You can put a list here and maybe folks will be able to tell you which schools require both the FAFSA and the profile.</p>
<p>It depends on the college. All colleges I know of require FAFSA. Many colleges require CSS also but not all.</p>
<p>There are a couple of colleges that do not require the FAFSA. Principia is one. Apparently they do not use any federally funded need based aid.</p>
<p>If the school requires the CSS/Profile for financial aid and you would like financial aid from that school then, yes, you will have to submit the CSS/Profile.</p>
<p>iamchloe, in another thread you ask about applying to 20 or more colleges. The expense of applying, including application fees, sending test scores and the CSS/Profile, is one of the many reasons applying to 20 colleges is not advisable. If you estimate about $80 per school (some will be more, some will be less) for the app fee, test scores and CSS/Profile, that adds up to about $1,600. If the cost of the CSS/Profile is causing you concern about the expense, it is time to consider cutting your list down - the CSS/Profile is relatively inexpensive compared to the application fees.</p>
<p>You also mention wanting to attend “selective private colleges with admissions under 30%”. Most of the schools you have mentioned in other posts require the CSS Profile as well as the FAFSA…and are amongst the most competitive schools in the country. Is there some compelling reason why you want only these most selective schools?</p>
<p>In a more recent post, you mention applying to nine colleges. That sounds much more manageable.</p>