There’s a thread on the parents forum right now asking where there top students in this year’s hs class wound up. Lots of big name schools. Also noticed that that public hs listed tended to be magnet, charter, IB specialty, etc.
- So, my kids went to a public school with a 60% free/reduced lunch rate. The only private options in my city are parochial: Catholic or super small/super conservative evangelical. While there were a very few graduating students who went to schools that get love here on cc, most, even the top of the class, went to the state schools or the local community college.
- I work in TRiO, and I know that for a lot of my students, completing the FAFSA is a huge hurdle. They have SO many situations that slow them down--parents who don't file, don't understand the importance of a deadline, odd family situations, one parent who isn't legal, etc. I honestly wouldn't believe a lot of these situations if I didn't see them.
- Here's my question, given that the schools that would give aid to the best of the low income students require a fin aid application form that is exponentially more complicated than the FAFSA, must be done in addition to it, and has a very firm deadline, do you think the CSS profile and by extension the schools that require it set up yet another barrier that keeps out the low income-first generation student?
No, the CSS profile facilitates attendance of low income students. The CSS Profile does, however, set up a barrier to middle income and upper middle income families that might have managed to accumulate some positive net worth over the years. If you are middle or upper middle class, be sure to apply to some schools that do not require the CSS Profile. If you are middle class, schools that require the Profile are going to charge your kid more than schools that require only the Fafsa and perhaps a school-specific aid form.
Depends. I hate Profile. I don’t mind filing my own taxes and Profile is awful. But, there has to be something more than FASFA to get a clearer picture. Also, Profile isn’t going to be as bad if you just have salaried income/wages and low assets. Valuation of a small business that isn’t easy to sell is one of the pains.
Princeton’s own FA application is much simpler than Profile but still gathers a better financial picture so I think there is definitely a bettter way. But, College Board has the market locked up. More resources for guidance counselors would definitely help but the money isn’t there. I’ve seen many advertisements for FASFA workshops but none for Profile. FASFA took me maybe 30 minutes but I’m not the market that you are properly arguing needs help.
I think another issue is breaking the misconception that “FASFA pays for college” instead of the truth that FASFA is a form that is used to determine aid, usually government aid.
We need workshops entitled “What forms do I need to complete for financial aid?” First, this removes the assumption that parents know what FASFA is and why it matters. Second, families can be educated on different forms, including FASFA and Profile, and provided further assistance for specific schools requirements through individual meetings. The deadlines need to be equated to April 15th and taxes as an analogy. Yes, it is more complicated because different schools have different deadlines.
Yes, the Profile is a barrier to entry. It’s one of many places these kids can trip up along the way to college.
I never found the Profile that hard to complete. Yes,mthere were more questions to answer, but nothing that really was all that hard to do.
University of Chicago felt that the Profile, and getting non-custodial parent information was a barrier to their school…and dropped those requirements.
The vast majority of college kids go to colleges that do NOT require the Profile.
I think it might be a barrier. I found it very time consuming and more complex than the FAFSA. Some students have a hard time getting their parents to fill out FAFSA, I can’t imagine the cajooling it would take to get them to also fill out the CSS Profile. And I don’t think it’s reasonable to say the student could fill it out for the parents, as it takes more than just a bank statement and a tax return to do it.
Yes, it is a hurdle.
It is a complicated form and many working class parents don’t have the literacy skills, time, etc to complete it.
We already know that just the FAFSA is a significant hurdle for many for a lot of reasons. Profile is exponentially more complicated.
IME, I do not think that it is necessarily a barrier for low income, first generation students. Will they need help/support completing the forms, absolutely!! The challenge is making sure that the supports are available.
At the schools where I have worked at, we had financial aid nights where the school partners with CBOs to assist families in filling out financial aid forms.
My high school was not in a low income district. They didn’t have help with financial aid forms… at least not that I ever knew of. A large chunk of the college-bound kids came from full pay families.
I filled out the FAFSA on my own and it was easy because we’re poor and our finances are super simple. I’m sure I could have figured out how to do PROFILE, but my parents gave me all of their financial forms and passwords for their bank accounts. Many parents are not nearly as open as mine which is one of the big barriers.
First gen parents often have a hard time understanding why their finances need to be out there and won’t work with their kids. (This is obviously an issue for higher income families as well, but presumably the parents in higher income, better educated families are more likely to fill out the forms on their own rather than leaving it all to the kid).