Weird situation

Paying for College
1

<p>Dear Community,</p>

<p>Consider the situation-</p>

<ol>
<li><p>In the high school free/reduced lunch application, they do not check your assets and only your income. We are "asset-rich" but our income is low (< $35,000) so according to their parameters, I qualify for free lunch.</p></li>
<li><p>According to my FAFSA application, because I qualify for free lunch, and because the family income is low, my EFC is $0.</p></li>
<li><p>But many colleges require the CSS Profile in addition to the FAFSA, so they will see all the assets we have (since I had to list it anyway). So wouldn't this seem weird to them, to see an EFC of $0 from the FAFSA but then see all these assets listed on the CSS Profile? Or is this nothing new and they will just make the appropriate adjustments? I have reported everything according to the instructions.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Thanks for any thoughts.</p>

2

<p>No, it won’t seem odd. That is why they require CSS. They want a more accurate picture of your financial situation to see what institutional aid they will offer you. Schools that ask for FAFSA and profile use FAFSA for awarding federal aid and profile for awarding their own money (institutional aid). If the assets are very high, they will take them into account whan it comes to awarding institutional aid.</p>