I applied to 16 schools for fall 2016, and I need to apply to financial aid and every school that I’m applying to requires the CSS Profile to be considered for financial aid and most deadlines are in March, before I get decisions back from these schools. $16 for each additional report? $256 is a lot of money for me, am I missing something?
Nope- the CSS Profile is expensive. If you qualified for a SAT waiver, you also qualify for a limited number of Profile waivers, but other than that, it’s unfortunately a part of the college application process.
If you received an sat fee waiver you will get 6 profile waivers the rest you must pay for it your application for aid will be incomplete resulting in no aid
And you want to check those deadlines carefully…and you don’t want to miss any of them…not by even a day. $256 is a good investment if you will net tens of thousands of dollars in need based aid.
Can you do some extra babysitting , or something to,earn the money for,the schools in excess of,the waivers?
@sybbie719 - Collegeboard waiver recipients get 8 Profile waivers, plus the initial cost of the Profile itself.
Ok,my bad but the fact still remains that Op will have to pay for the rest of the schools (paying for 8 instead of 10)
@thumper1 Do all colleges have the same deadline? Do you know when they are usually due? I applied to UMich and couldn’t find the deadline for the profile.
No.
Google is your friend:
http://www.finaid.umich.edu/TopNav/AboutUMFinancialAid/FinancialAidTimelines.aspx
NO…colleges set their own deadlines…and they vary wildly.
umIch…right from their website…but do it sooner than April!!
For prospective students entering U-M for Fall Term, the financial aid application process begins the school year before enrollment. See New & Prospective Students for more detailed information about applying for aid.
• SEPTEMBER—JUNE:
Apply for scholarships from private sources such as banks and churches, local companies and organizations, and special interest organizations. See Private Scholarships for more information.
• JANUARY—FEBRUARY:
Submit a CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE to apply for need-based U-M grants and scholarships. Use U-M CSS Code 1839. The PROFILE is available beginning on October.
Apply for a federal FSA ID number by visiting https://fsaid.ed.gov and selecting “Create an FSA ID.”
Submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), to apply for federal and state grants, scholarships, Work-Study, and loans. Use U-M Federal School Code 002325. The FAFSA is available beginning January 1. (Note: If you complete your FAFSA after your income tax returns are filed, you may be able to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, which allows you to populate FAFSA fields with IRS data.)
• MARCH—APRIL:
The U-M Office of Financial Aid begins notifying entering students by email when U-M financial aid award notices are available on Wolverine Access. You will need a U-M uniqname or Friend Account to access your award notices online.
U-M must receive your FAFSA records from the federal processor by April 30 to consider you for federal financial aid programs. If you are applying for institutional grants, we must also have your CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE by this date.
• MAY—JULY:
Complete loan promissory notes (if applicable). You will receive emails with directions.
If you plan to attend U-M, you must pay your enrollment deposit by May 1.
If you were required to submit additional documents to apply for aid, U-M must receive them by June 1 to consider you for all financial aid programs.
• AUGUST—SEPTEMBER:
Students receive their bills for Fall term.
Students receive their financial aid for Fall term.
(return to top of page)
CSS profile fee is just a small fraction of the total application cost (application fees, score reports, etc). One should set a budget before applying to too many schools.
Are you sure that ALL 16 schools require the Profile? That means you didn’t apply to ANY public Us.
@Erin’s Dad There are public universities that require CSS profile too like UMich.
Nevertheless, CSS profiles schools have a wide range of campus size, strength, location, etc. If one has applied to so many profile school, obviously he/she did not think it through before taking a shot-gun approach.
Yep, it looks like just the three publics that meet/try to meet need (UMich, UVA and UNC) require the Profile. Tough list for admission. https://profileonline.collegeboard.org/prf/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet.srv
And Georgia Tech…for students applying for institutional scholarships with a need component…they must also complete the Profile.
Missed that one.
William & Mary also requires the CSS Profile.
Yes, I’m sure that all of these schools require the CSS profile. I didn’t take a “shotgun approach”, I didn’t apply to “too many schools”, I’m not dumb, I’ve budgeted and made decisions where need be.
I was just surprised at the $16 that the profile requires. That’s quite a bit of money for a form that’s basically an essential part of the college application process. I’m just further frustrated by the College Board and the money they’ve been sucking out of my bank account for the past four years of my life.
To be fair, they do give you the basic fee plus 8 schools for free. The common app gives you 20 app fees waived for free. The SAT and ACT give 2 tests each. If you need to go beyond, you need to go beyond, but i don’t think those limits are unreasonable.
It is a shame OP that your guidance counselor didn’t advise of the fact that she would have to pay for CSS profile. It seems that you either have to pay for 8 of your apps, or withdraw some of your applications. 16 is a big number of colleges to apply to anyway. Maybe there are some you don’t actually care about. If so, you can just send an email to the rep saying you are withdrawing your application.