I thought a few of ours just wanted them sent if student is accepted. I’ll check.
Thanks!
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I would love to have an answer to this question, too. S23 was filling out the UW application on the common app, and got stuck on the parent income section. We don’t plan to apply for need based aid and would rather not disclose info if not needed. For Cal States the instruction was to enter 999999 if you don’t want to disclose info, but does UW actually need the info in the common app?
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I’m counting myself lucky that the FAFSA came in at only $5K more than my predictions based on last year’s formulas. It’s unsurprisingly still WAAAAYYY more than what we can really afford.
Meanwhile, on the CSS profile, I put down that we were planning to contribute $2K to our child’s college expenses next year, and that’s a real estimate LOL. That’s why he’s chasing the merit $.
The CSS was a pain, like you’ve all said. And I got to mostly enter zeros because our finances aren’t complicated at all. How much did we spend in 2021 on medical and dental expenses, including premiums? Uhhhh, no idea. Lots. Too much. I just added my premiums to my deductible and threw in the extra $1K we spent on a wisdom tooth extraction and called it good. I’m sure it was an underestimate by several thousand, but there was no easy way for me to get that info. I’m guessing that’s probably a small part of the formula. If I’m lucky, our son won’t go to a CSS school and I won’t have to do that again next year!
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I know some schools want FAFSA in order to be eligible for merit aid and some want CSS as well. University of Washington does offer some (albeit not a huge amount) of merit aid to out of state students. If you are not wanting/expecting any merit aid then I would not bother with the FAFSA. The FAFSA is really nothing compared to CSS and I just completed it to be sure as we are looking for merit aid. I just sent an e-mail asking about our need for CSS at some schools as only a few posted on their website.
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Ok, will check. S23 claims it is part of the required Parent Info section of their app.
Question- does this CSS question mean how much do you plan to contribute out of pocket each year? Because we are planning to use 15k a year from her 529, and could cash flow another 10. Do I put in 10k for the answer or 25k?
I thought it said “excluding premiums “ and then it had to be a certain percentage for f your income to even enter it? Glad I haven’t clicked submit. I clearly need to reread all sections.
Our S23 is applying to UW through common app and it is part of Family Information. But it doesn’t appear to be absolutely required (no red asterisks on these fields). Is your S doing the common app version or the UW app?
I don’t know because we don’t have a 529, sorry. I’m pretty sure that you would include the 15K you plan to contribute from her 529, and then also add the 10K you might contribute from your cash flow, so you would answer 25K. I would say don’t put in any more than you really think you’ll do. For example, if you know you can cash flow 5K but not sure about 10K, I’d say put down 20K.
Yes you do count your premiums. Our insurance premiums are way over the percentage without even counting anything else.
Yes the common app and yes this is the section he is talking about! So you think we can just leave it blank? Feels weird…
The FAFSA gives an EFC. We finally finished the CSS profile and I don’t see an EFC number. So it’s only the FAFSA right?
Our EFC for 2 kids is about $5000 less than my overall EFC last year (one kid in college) but that makes sense because my husband is self-employed and had a lower-than-normal year reflected in the 2021 taxes. So the EFC (split between the 2 kids) was actually a little lower than I expected. I’ll celebrate any good news I can during this madness. Lol.
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I actually spent the day emailing each admissions department of the schools my D is applying to. So far, all have replied that the FAFSA… and CSS in those schools that require that… are not required to be filled out to be considered for non-need based merit aid. Some have said that the FAFSA would have to be filled out if my D receives a merit scholarship and then commits to their school. I’m cool with that. And one expressed that the FAFSA being filed is important if your child’s financial situation changes (loss of parent’s job or loss of parent or major health issue, etc.) and you want the school to reevaluate your package.
Anyway, I think it’s worth checking with all the schools before going through it all. Besides the fact that I don’t like all my financial info being broadcast to people I don’t know.
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It looks like we can just leave it blank; I think the purpose of this section might be to give an admissions boost to low income applicants? At the bottom of the section it says (emphasis theirs):
All applicants are urged to respond to as many of the questions in this section as possible. Information about parents provides context for better understanding an applicant’s educational environment and circumstances. The information you provide in this section will not disadvantage you in the admission process in any way.
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This depends on what state you live in. My daughter is class of '24 (WA state) and was entirely remote her 9th grade year, except for 8 days in person school in May/June 2021.
Is there an easy way to find out if the schools on my son’s list needs the official SAT scores sent (vs. self-reporting)? I know some things like “teacher references” or “extra essay” are listed for each school on the common app. Maybe it’s there on that main page?
On here, and then of course on the actual app. Colleges that Allow Self-Reporting of SAT and ACT Scores - Compass Education Group
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Thanks! We will leave it blank then.
shawk - yes, i completely spaced off those freshmen in 2020-21. I hope your daughter made it through the year OK. We are in the midwest and did not have anywhere as stringent rules; but a good friend in WA State told me all about her elementary daughter’s year. . . the family bubbles and group parent lessons. for us, the hardest part was spring 2020 when our kids’ school completely shut down and quit teaching. still shaking my head over that; and we transferred our D23 to a small private in=person school 20/21. I AM GLAD its over; but there certainly are repercussions for that class of 2024 as well.
S23 has been hard at work on essays. At the moment it looks like he will swing for the fences on EA at Princeton. He’s pretty much finalized his school list
Princeton
Duke
Rice
UNC
Uva
UCLA
UC Berkley
Is debating between Carnegie Mellon and Northwestern, but doesn’t want to deal with cold weather (Princeton is the only school he’s willing to make an exception for).
He has a strong profile, similar to S21 who ended up at Chicago, with a few additional wrinkles (captain of the basketball team, researcher on a medical paper). We’ll see how it goes.
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Congrats and great list. Does he have safeties as well? Good luck with Princeton!
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