Need help with CSS Profile!

Paying for College
1

I’m sorry, if this is a stupid question but I’m the first kid in my family to go to college so I’m completely new to the entire financial aid thing especially the CSS profile. (I know this is a long post, but please help me out in whatever ways you can!)

I recently asked my parents to fill out what they could on the CSS Profile, and they filled it out to the best of their ability. However, when I looked over all the pages, I realized that they left a lot of blank especially in the Parents Household Income section, Parents Income section, and Parent’s expenses… I’m kind of worried that they might have left things blank that should not be… (Although they claim that they just copied down what is written on their financial papers)

I’m currently an international student, and my family is undergoing a lot of financial difficulty. Are international students suppose to leave a lot of blanks, since a lot of the questions pertain to social security stuff?

These are some questions that I’m not sure about…

  1. Enter the total current value of this parent’s tax-deferred retirement, pension, annuity, and savings plans. Include IRA, SRA Keogh, SEP, 401(a), 401(k), 403(b), 408, 457, 501© plans, etc.

*For this question, my parents informed me that we do not have one. So do I just input in that we have none?

  1. Enter the amount of taxable interest income your parents earned in 2014 as reported on their 2014 IRS Form 1040, line 8a.
  2. Enter the amount of 2014 education credits (American Opportunity, Hope and Lifetime Learning) that your parents claimed on their 2014 IRS Form 1040, line 50.
  3. Enter the amount of payments (paid directly or withheld from earnings) to tax-deferred pension and savings plans your parents made or expect to make in 2014 including, but not limited to, amounts reported on W-2 Forms in Boxes 12a through 12d, codes D, E, F, G, H, and S. Include untaxed payments to 401(k) and 403(b) plans.
  4. Enter the amount of tax-exempt interest income your parents received in 2014 as reported on their 2014 IRS Form 1040, line 8b.
  5. Enter the income tax your parents paid for 2013 from their 2013 IRS Form 1040, line 55.

*My parents left all these blank, (and all these blank spaces are making me feel really uneasy…) so do I just put 0?

Use this space to provide additional information on this business as requested above, or to explain any special circumstance pertaining to this business.

*My parents own a business, so should I mention here that my parent’s store is on the verge of going out of business?

All the blank spaces on my CSS Profile is making me extremely uneasy and I don’t know if my parents filled things in correctly. I don’t want to fill in something wrong and have the schools I send my CSS to think I lied about certain subjects.

2

I believe that there is a unique Profile form for international applicants. Based on all the questions that you have asked about, it appears that you are completing the Profile for U.S. citizen applicants.

3

There’s a separate form for international students? Where can I find the CSS profile form for international students?

4

I hope someone else chimes in…but I don’t think there is a separate form for international students.

5

At the very least there is skip logic for online completion that asks if a U.S. tax return was completed, and if the answer is “no” then the applicant is asked appropriate questions. Asking an international applicant about W-2s and 1040s makes no sense.

https://professionals.collegeboard.com/higher-ed/financial-aid/profile/global

http://css.collegeboard.org/

6

All the blank spaces on my CSS Profile is making me feel really uneasy and I feel as if I’m doing something wrong… Are there any fellow international students that have experience with this?

(I don’t know if this will make a difference but I forgot to mention that I’m an international student living in the United States)