<p>Hello, I know very little about the whole financial aid process. I have known about FAFSA and I thought that was all that was needed to apply for Financial Aid. However, upon reading part of my Upenn Application, it notes that the CSS PROFILE has a deadline of Feb 1. I was wondering what is the purpose of this application, since I imagined that FAFSA was the only one that mattered. What exactly is different about this application and what impact would not submitting it have on me?</p>
<p>The CSS Profile is used by a number of schools (mostly private but also some publics) to gain more information about family finances. They then use this information to award institutional money (money from the university...not federal funds). If your school requires the CSS Profile as a part of the financial aid process, you MUST complete it to be considered for financial aid. So....the impact would be...if you don't do it, you will not be considered for financial aid at UPenn. Now...what is the difference? Well, the Profile asks for additional information that the FAFSA does not ask for...specifically more information about asset such as home equity, business worth, and other investments. There are supplemental questions that some schools also want completed that ask about everything from car values to retirement account values. I don't know if UPenn uses any supplemental questions or not.</p>
<p>Anyway...long and short...you need to complete the CSS Profile for UPenn.</p>
<p>You should check all of the schools to which you applied to see if any others require the PROFILE.</p>
<p>They also advise that you register with them 2 weeks before your deadline, which for a Feb 1 deadline has already passed. Likewise, they advise not waiting until the last minute to submit your application...</p>
<p>Do the CSS Profile before the FAFSA. When you submit the CSS Profile you will get an acknowledgement with a button to press which will link your Profile answers to the correct line numbers on the FAFSA worksheet, which will greatly simplify things for you.</p>
<p>It's a real pain. I just submitted the Profile today (for a Feb. 1 deadline) and am working on the FAFSA now. Can't wait to be done.</p>
<p>Also, some schools have their own financial aid applications that need to be submitted in addition to the other 2 forms. We have (at least) one of those too.</p>