Necessary to file the CSS Profile?

Just 2 of the 9 schools my D applied to require the CSS profile. Our EFC indicates we are full pay; filed the FAFSA anyway. Since the CSS takes more assets into consideration, particularly home equity (of which we have considerable amount), am wondering should we even bother filing the profile as we won’t be eligible for institutional $. Are there any other reasons to submit it? Can it still be filed in subsequent years if there’s a major change in our financial situation? TIA

We were in a similar spot last year and didn’t bother filing. Most schools let you apply later if your situation changes, but there are a few schools that don’t let you for some reason. None of the schools son applied to said we couldn’t submit it later, so why bother? I really don’t want the schools to know my personal financial situation unless we seek aid.

Thanks, @RightCoaster. It IS personal and would rather not share it since we won’t benefit. I’ll call the 2 schools and ask about future years just in case.

Profile does ask for lots of financial information, but depending on the particular school, some of it is not used in determining financial aid. For example, some schools that use Profile do not factor in primary home equity, even though that information is asked for on Profile. Before a decision is made to not apply for financial aid, it’s important to have a good understanding of just how each school assesses a family’s financial situation. Otherwise, you might be leaving dollars on the table.

OP - Congrats on being in an enviable financial position such that you do not require, nor expect, financial aid.

As I understand it, some schools require the filing of FAFSA to even be considered for merit-based aid. Since Profile schools are all different, it is worth contacting them to see if they require the CSS Profile for potential merit-based aid as well.

At my DS’s school, the CSS profile is only submitted for year one.

This is true, as some schools want to be sure they aren’t leaving money on the table in the form of PELL grants. I used to joke about how much easier it would be if I could just send in my tax returns, but it was well worth it. If that’s all the school needs, then they may or may not also want the CSS - worth checking. It may be an essential item to be checked off to move through the process - or it may be completely unnecessary.

If you don’t think merit aid would be available, then I wouldn’t worry about it.

Like 3Puppies said, some schools ( and not any that we encountered when son applied last year) require Fafsa to be considered for merit. But we did not file Fafsa or CCS and son17 got merit awards, and some were very generous.
You just need to double check with each school you apply to.

The FAFSA has already been filed and merit aid has been received from 5 of the 7 schools where D has been admitted. Still waiting to hear (or not) from the other two. Awaiting admission decisions from two more.

I called the 2 schools in question that require the CSS profile. Was happily surprised that I was able to get an actual person on the phone very quickly! I guess I didn’t realize that generally speaking you just file the profile once as opposed to the FAFSA which needs to be done annually. Both said it didn’t need to be submitted unless we wanted to be considered for institutional aid but one school said they strongly suggested submitting now in the event of a change in financial circumstances in future years, while the other said it could just be submitted in the future (if needed) and they would “work with us”.

“Generally speaking” is not an accurate expression to use here. Some schools that require Profile for institutional aid consideration will only need it submitted once. Many schools that use Profile will require that it be submitted every year that institutional aid is sought, just like FAFSA.

I’m not so sure it is generally done that way. I personally have never heard it done that way and at my kid’s school I need to file every year.

I never expected to get any financial aid. I assumed our $150K income was enough not to qualify. I was wrong. We receive about $20K/yr in need-based aid (at least when we have 2 kids in college at the same time). To be honest, we probably would not have chosen that school if we didn’t get this aid (they also ended up giving us an additional $5K/yr through another program).

Sorry…I shouldn’t have said “generally speaking”. Made an incorrect assumption based on the two schools I spoke with and someone else mentioning only having to submit the profile once.

@privateID That is great that you received financial aid! We only have one going through the process and every NPC I’ve run shows qualifying for Federal loans only. One of the FA people I spoke with told me “if that’s all you’re seeing when you run the NPC, then you won’t qualify for institutional aid”.

I recommend all parents, including “high income” parents, read Troy Onink’s excellent article on college financial aid at the Forbes magazine website at https://www.forbes.com/sites/troyonink/2017/01/08/2017-guide-to-college-financial-aid-the-fafsa-and-css-profile/#4f6d3baa4cd4.

At our D’s college, we have to submit a FAFSA and CSS PROFILE with IDOC each year to be considered for need-based aid. When she applied for colleges, we found some significant variance with what the NPCs reported as her financial aid eligibility and what she was actually offered. Each family’s situation is different, depending on how assets are structured, family owned businesses, real estate holdings, how may students are in college, etc.

Unless you are so wealthy that you can write checks for the full amount of expensive private college costs and not miss the money, I would recommend filing the CSS PROFILE and IDOC to verify your eligibility. If nothing else, even if your EFC results in no need-based eligibility, you will have peace of mind that you tried, and if you are wealthy, the fees aren’t a big deal. I would hate to leave any need-based money on the table.

The top post on The College Solution blog has a spreadsheet exploring how schools weight home equity.

Colleges that take the CSS and also use the college Board as their net price calculator provider tend to have good estimates of whether you will qualify for any institutional funds.

I can only speak from our own experience. We diligently entered our data into the net price calculators for the colleges our D considered and applied to, including CSS Profile schools, and I was surprised by the difference in what the NPCs estimates were and the financial aid offers she actually received from the colleges that offered her admission.

I encourage prospective students and parents to use NPCs as part of the initial screening process, but for colleges under serious consideration, especially those that have offered admission, based on our experience, I wouldn’t rule out any colleges solely based on NPC estimates.

I don’t know if there have been studies done on the differences between NPC estimates and what actual financial aid offers looked like, but that might be very interesting. I don’t know if our experience is an anomaly.

Do you mean your daughter received much more than NPC has calculated?
Could you please share a little but more detail? My NPC is around 60,000.if it’s the correct number, I have to pay almost the sticker price. I don’t own any real estate but have 400,000+ on my bank statement:(

@Awakefish the $400,000 in regular savings right there…adds $20,000 to your family contribution.

IIRC, your income is $150,000 a year. That income would generate an addition $35,000-$50,000 of family contribution.

Seems to me that someone with $150,000 income and $400,000 in a regular non-retirement bank account WPULD have a family contribution in the $60,000 range…for one year.

UMich is one of those only require CSS profile for freshmen year.

We only filed FAFSA. Our EFC was too high for any institutional aid. I called each school to make sure it would not be required for merit consideration. One issue that came up was that about half of the schools thought we were looking for aid (triggered by the FAFSA filing) and my D had to send them an e-mail to clarify she was only looking for a federal student loan…this happened even though she checked on common app not applying for aid. This isn’t a big deal except if the school you are applying to is need sensitive…then if they think you are applying for aid it can possibly hurt you in admissions.

@Veryapparent

I’m not sure what you wrote is true.

At need aware schools, the admissions folks know your level of financial need, and that can factor into your admission…or not. BUT if you have NO financial need…there would not be any impact at all as the school would easily see that you didn’t qualify for institutional aid…at all.