Hello,
I am filling out CSS profile for my oldest and don’t see any more any way to provide cost of schooling their younger sibling. They also seem to cut some other questions as well and made UI annoyingly confusing. Am I missing something?
Even back in the Stone Age, I don’t recall having to list what my other kids were paying for college on the Profile. Both my kids attended Profile schools. But maybe my memory is not so wonderful!
I did have to list where the other kid was attending college…and both colleges requested verification of enrollment from the sibling college.
UI (unearned income?)
UI = user interface in this context?
I remember a question about younger siblings attending private primary and secondary schools and the cost. Since Profile schools can tailor the Profile questions to a certain extent for their applicants, some applying students will see different questions than those applying to different Profile schools.
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Yes…there was a question about costs for a sibling or your own kid in private school on the Profile…but not one about college costs.
Perhaps this is a college specific question that some schools ask…
@sybbie719 i seem to recall you knew of this at some colleges.
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The poster says “younger sibling” so I’d assume the reference is to private primary or secondary school.
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Ah…I see the reference to “younger sibling”. This does NOT apply at all if your younger sibling attends public school. And even when the question did appear, some colleges didn’t look at this cost for private schools as they were a choice. Maybe that’s why the question doesn’t ask for cost anymore.
Yes, the question was about private schools for siblings, not colleges. Sorry for the confusion.
We were told at some point that is was considered as we asked fin aid office how our contribution will change if we switch to public school. I don’t remember exact numbers, but it wasn’t one to one, i.e. cost of private school goes directly into family contribution. I think our share would have raised by 30% of school tuition or so.
yes, UI = user interface.
The more I think about it the less sense this new profile makes. They removed all the questions about “next” year income and few other questions that helped paint more realistic picture. Now I don’t see how it is any different from FAFSA. Our household income in 2021 happened to be ~50% greater than any other surrounding year. And since it’s the tax return I have to use for 2023-2024 profile, we are likely facing significantly reduced aid even though we barely made ends meet paying for college this year. I wish I could use 2022 data instead…
Well…that 2022 data will be used for the 2024-25 academic year.
I actually think the questions you are referring to about projected income on the Profile were NOT actually used in the computation. Not sure why they ever bothered asking.
The tax year info for the FAFSA and Profile are the same…and always have been. When FAFSA went to Prior Prior…so did Profile.
Re: your income jump…is it a one time thing that will never happen again…something like a bonus or something that won’t repeat. If so, you can ask the college for a special circumstances consideration to remove the extra bonus or whatever.
For families with large fluctuations in income, merit aid is sometimes a better hunt. That doesn’t consider family finances…at all.
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I was wondering the same thing and just compared our CSS from last year to this year and there were MANY questions that I would have thought helped us get more aid that were not there this year: sibling k-12 tuition costs, whether we are required to contribute to retirement at work, whether the college student has taken out loans, expected medical for the next year, etc. I kind of presumed that paying 2 kids’ Catholic high school tuition played into the amount of financial aid received at a Catholic university. It was the college that offered the most need-based aid.
I suspect that the answers to those questions are not taken into consideration, so they are no longer asked. Just my suspicion.
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