<p>I had to send the CSS PROFILE to 9 schools which cam up to $153. This is freakin' ridiculous! I'm applying for FA because I NEED money, not to give it to CB! Now I feel bad about making my mom pay for this...we can't really afford it.</p>
<p>So, how much did you wind up spending on the CSS PROFILE?</p>
<p>i am gonna end up spending $73. its BS and whats up with that one time registration fee. college board charges way too much for all their services</p>
<p>monopoly monopoly monopoly monopoly monopoly</p>
<p>So don’t apply to Profile schools. FAFSA is free.</p>
<p>When you think about how much you will receive from FA, you are getting an excellent return on your investment.</p>
<p>Kid applied to 1 school that required CSS. I objected to paying money to see if she qualified for money, especially when FAFSA return our EFC. Long story short…that 1 school gave 16k year without CSS, just FAFSA info. I suspect more would have been forthcoming had I not been such a cheapskate.</p>
<p>Go ahead and fill out that CSS profile!!</p>
<p>After this year, you only have to pay for one CSS, so it’s not so bad.</p>
<p>If you qualify for FRL I believe you could get a fee waiver for PROFILE for up to 4 schools.</p>
<p>@LasMa
I don’t agree with that because it shouldn’t deferring someone from applying to a school they really want to go to.</p>
<p>Some schools say you’re only eligible for institutional financial aid if you send in the CSS. If not, and you only send in the FAFSA, you are only eligible for federal financial aid. Boston University is like this.</p>
<p>I wasn’t being completely sarcastic. There are many schools that don’t require PROFILE, and if the fee is a problem, a student shouldn’t apply to multiple schools that require it. That’s a choice YOU made. </p>
<p>As far as deterrance: You don’t have a right to financial aid. For that matter, you don’t have a right to a college education, and you especially don’t have a right to attend an expensive private school like BU. The reason colleges require PROFILE is that it helps them do a better job of deciding who really needs aid and who doesn’t. PROFILE is the key that may unlock many thousands of dollars in college money for you. It’s what makes it possible for students like you to attend schools like that. It’s not free, but compared to the aid you’re hoping for, it’s a pretty good bargain.</p>
<p>I think for some families, the CSS profile helps show other debt, mortgages, etc. I know for my son, his CSS profile schools gave more aid than the only fafsa ones. I have no statistics, but I heard a family in front of us at Marist say, “Oh, there’s no CSS, we probably wont get much here” when the admissions presenter said it was only fafsa. She even said for some families, this would help, for others, it wouldn’t, almost like it was an apology.
I think it’s too expensive and I’m sorry we will miss the “one time” CSS, but if it helps, the money is worth it.</p>
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<p>If you NEED the financial aid, you need to complete the forms (and pay for them unless you are eligible for waiver which can be obtained if your family has a very low income). </p>
<p>REALITY CHECK…if you have to complete the Profile, you are also applying to some mighty expensive schools…probably near $50,000 a year. If you get need based aid that will allow you to attend these schools, then that $153 will be a drop in the bucket compared to the costs to attend these schools.</p>
<p>Agreed with others…if this application fee was not agreeable to you, there are thousands of FAFSA only schools that do not require the Profile. Only about 300 schools use the Profile to determine institutional need based aid. If you object to the fees for the Profile, apply to FAFSA only schools.</p>
<p>Some schools require CSS if you want to be accounted for financial aid…</p>
<p>I do agree it is expensive… but what’s not these days. Sigh…
I’m complaining about next semester’s college textbooks already.</p>
<p>But think about it… you only need to send your CSS to one school next year :)</p>
<p>My complaint is that it is too expensive, not the fact that I have to fill it out in itself. And yeah, I am applying to expensive schools without the money for afford it; that’s what FA is for. I was just wondering how much other students wound up paying, not asking criticized for feeling bad about making my parent pay for this stuff.</p>
<p>Ohboi, I understand that there is a cost for submitting the Profile to nine schools. BUT the dividend for you in need based aid (if you are eligible) will FAR exceed this money for the Profile applications. Schools that use the Profile are awarding THEIR money and they are looking at lots of information to make that determination. Some of the schools using Profile are also quite generous with financial aid. Some are not as generous with need based aid.</p>
<p>College COSTS are expensive as you are finding out. $153 in application fees for schools that are as costly as most of the Profile schools are is really a small amount of money especially if you net need based financial aid awards from the applications.</p>
<p>Yes, I understand that in the long run it’s a small price to pay compared to the amount of money I may get. But it hurts the wallet at the moment. I’m not like angry. It was just unexpected because I didn’t even know you had to pay for it until I got an e-mail from one of my potential colleges with all the Profile info in it.</p>
<p>Collegboard makes lots of money on CCS/Profile. Not only do they charge the student, they sell FA software to the schools to analyze the data and generate FA packages.</p>
<p>OT: Isn’t collegeboard supposed to be nonprofit? Or am I mistaken? Because if it’s non-profit, where is all this profit going? lol</p>
<p>Well, non-profit doesn’t mean they don’t need to make money. Non-profits still have to pay the bills. ;)</p>
<p>Yes, but that’s a LOT of bills if that’s all they’re doing… because it’s MIGHTY expensive between X, Y, and Z.</p>