<p>So, my mother and I filled out the CSS PROFILE today, and we get to pay a whopping $137 when it comes time to send it out. </p>
<p>I am eligible for free lunches at school, and my family gets food stamps... yet we don't qualify for a fee waiver? I'm not seeing how any of this makes sense.</p>
<p>That $137 investment will deliver a lot of free money to you and your family. Hopefully you are grateful for your food stamps and free lunches, and the financial aid that you will be receiving. Our society is trying to help folks with need.</p>
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Why couldn’t you get a waiver?</p>
<p>Gee–do you complain every time something isn’t given to you for free? Is an organization automatically “greedy” the moment it places caps on how much free stuff it gives out? </p>
<p>You could earn that $137 by working a few hours a week after school for a month or less. If you tell me that you already work 15+ hours a week and EVERY penny of that goes to pay for your food and rent, then I might rethink things a bit. But until then, I think you should just get used to paying for as much of your way in life as you can muster and just be grateful for the help in the cases when you do qualify and aid is available.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that even if you get phenomenal financial aid from college there will still be costs. For the most part even the most generous of college factor in a student contribution. Make sure you have a handle on the amount of money you and your parent(s) can afford and if you aren’t working seriously consider it if only for the summer before college.</p>
<p>OP, it’s often a surprise how expensive applying to colleges is, even for middle-income families. After all the application fees, then comes the deposits which must accompany your acceptance of their offer - most schools will require a both a housing and a tuition deposit which may run several hundred dollars (or more) each though they will appear as a credit on your account for next fall. Many schools also charge orientation fees as well. Make sure you and your mom prepare for those expenses, which should be listed somewhere on the school’s website. You’ll want to start saving now for those if it would place a burden on your family to pay them.</p>
<p>Well, I agree it’s expensive and I can imagine $137 came as a surprise. Many of us run tight budgets because of the college-related expenses. It may be less than a car payment to some families, but it’s huge to others. Best of luck that it turns out to be the right investment.</p>
<p>Whatever the income/assets particulars are for a family, College Board logistics are expensive, and there are no two ways about it. CSA Profile, SAT I and II registrations, sending out scores, rushing scores if need be, IDOC (I actually forgot if that one costs $) AP tests and score reporting. There must be more that I’m just forgetting. I remember when my daughter was doing all of this several years ago, College Board was still <em>dot com.</em> I thought that was so appalling. Now at least they are <em>dot org.</em> Not having been in this game for a while, I don’t know whether the prices have gone up or down or stayed the same. This really is terrible for families in need, and it’s just plain bad for everyone else. There is no reason for it to be so expensive. None at all.</p>
<p>.com, .org, .net…it’s just smoke and mirrors. If CB is smart they own all three and others. OP, do what you need to do within your financial means and be smart.</p>
<p>I agree that its a ridiculous amount of money. I had to pay for ap tests by myself and they were $100 a piece my senior year (we had to pay an additional fee since the tests weren’t held at my school). Slightly less the years before. And I took 10 ap tests.</p>
<p>With that said, $137 is a small price to pay for fa and no one is forced to apply to schools which require the profile. I’m curious as well as to whether or not the OP has a job. If not, this is an excellent time to start contributing to their education!</p>
<p>That’s a good point about the job. It might be kind of hard to get one if you’re just starting looking – I have heard rumors that the economy is bad (?) and finding jobs for inexperienced teenagers is more challenging than it used to be. OP, do you have lifeguard certification or anything that will smooth the process?</p>
<p>Oh it’s absolutely difficult in most places -an even better reason that the OP should look for a job now of she/he doesn’t have one. That way when she/he gets to college, they’ll have some work experience and can get a job on campus easier. Plus, it will help save up for books and such.</p>
<p>small nit, but you ought not “blame” CB for this item. The Profile only works because member colleges mandate that you use it. It saves THEM – the colleges – time and money, or it would not exist. Not all colleges use Profile of course; instead, they hire/train/pay folks in their financial aid office to process all of the paper (or use FAFSA only). Profile just streamlines the process for them and for you. Think if you had to apply to a dozen or so colleges, each with very specific – and different – requirements for financial aid.</p>
<p>Out of the ~ 4000 colleges and universities in the US, ~300 schools use the CSS profile. About 93% of the colleges in the country do not use the profile. No one is holding a gun to anyone’s head when it comes to applying to schools that use the profile or filing out the profile. Op has plenty of choices among the non-profile schools.</p>
<p>That being said, the $137 is a small price to pay should the Op get institutional aid from even one school.</p>
<p>If it’s really too much for you, you don’t really need to apply to 7 schools that require it. Find ones that don’t.</p>
<p>“…then comes the deposits which must accompany your acceptance of their offer - most schools will require a both a housing and a tuition deposit which may run several hundred dollars (or more) each though they will appear as a credit on your account for next fall. Many schools also charge orientation fees as well. Make sure you and your mom prepare for those expenses…”</p>
<p>Great advice. </p>
<p>We knew a girl who almost didn’t go to Harvard because she lacked about $1,500 a year in out of pocket costs. EVERYTHING else was covered. Lucky for her, a teacher mentioned her plight at a Memorial Day neighborhood party and fifteen women ended up chipping in $100 each yearly for the four years. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>^ So she couldn’t get a job over the summer??</p>
<p>^^My thought also. And same for the OP as I noted earlier. Kids with tough family income situations especially need alittle cushion and need to have that summer job or year round part-time job to cover transportation costs, sundries and sometimes books (if their scholarships don’t allow a credit at the bookstore.) If those costs are covered by reimbursements, the reimbursements often don’t come until a couple weeks after they hit campus. And some of the Profile private schools still expect a student contribution presumably from part-time job earnings…</p>
<p>^^ My DD did look hard for a local summer job after HS graduation, there simply none available, once they know it is a job you will quit in 3 months. They do not want to train you as an inexperienced HS grduate, there just isn’t enough time.</p>
<p>This year, she did find a job in the college coffee shop, nevertheless.</p>
<p>^ It seems like this person is still in high school. Therefore, she should have around a year before she has to leave. </p>
<p>Also, with the holidays coming up, there are plenty of places looking for a few extra hands.</p>