<p>Barca…the CSS Profile is an additional financial aid application form required by about 300 colleges. I believe Syracuse is one of them. Schools requiring the Profile use THAT form to determine their awarding if institutional aid (money that is awarded out of the college’s monies). </p>
<p>Go to the financial aid page for Syracuse. Look for what they require for financial aid applications for incoming freshmen. The forms, and other submissions will be clearly stated on those websites…as well as the deadlines.</p>
<p>ETA…here is the link for THIS year for Syracuse. It includes the submission requirements and deadlines. EVERY college will have a similar page. But you need to check them all, as submissions and deadlines vary wildly by college.</p>
<p><a href=“Dates and deadlines for financial aid applications - Syracuse.edu”>http://www.syr.edu/financialaid/datesanddeadlines/</a></p>
<p>All schools require fafsa. It’s used to determine what federal aid you are eligible for. Many states also have aid for low income students. Often fafsa is used for that too but in some states there is an additional application for state aid. At some schools fafsa is also used to determine if the school will give you need-based grants out of their money. Generally those schools have less aid to give. As mentioned, schools with better aid to give require the CSS profile which is a much more detailed look at you and your family’s financial situation. Some schools use their own more detailed form instead of profile. You need to look at the finaid website of each school you are interested in to find what forms are required and what the deadlines are for that school.</p>
<p>It is complex to track down the schools that may give you the best aid. Start a spreadsheet of the schools you are interested in. Include some of your state schools. Enter the results from the NPCs, enter the forms required and the deadlines for the forms and any other info you think worthwhile. This will help you keep track of all of this.</p>
<p>I haven’t looked back through the whole thread. What is your home state?</p>
<p>@annoyingdad thanks; and homestate is Maryland. And for CSS, do I have to apply to the school first in order to get the results?
And yea, I will start using the NPC but i first will print a FAFSA form and fill it out because my mom and I don’t understand some of the questions so we will seek guidance from FAFSA.gov. NO, I WILL not submit FAFSA but I will use this form so that I can use NPC, like I said some of the questions I don’t understand. </p>
<p>Great idea about printing the FAFSA form and working through it before filing. You’ll know much better how the calculations work. Don’t bother trying to file the Profile until you really need to. For one, it costs money to file. Second, only some schools require it. And any updates to your info can’t be done online - you’ll need to work through the college(s) to see how they want to see any changes.</p>
<p>Apply to the schools by their deadline or earlier, don’t wait until the last minute. Apply for financial aid by each school’s deadlines. For fasfa, fill it out and file it early in January with estimated income and actual asset figures. Once you(if necessary) and your parents file their taxes, you go back into fafsa and update the income numbers but not the asset numbers. There is a tool on the fafsa site called the Data Retrieval Tool that can be used to transfer the income tax info from the IRS to your fafsa. You and your parents should plan on filing your tax returns as early as possible next year. This isn’t the year to delay filing. If someone else does your parents taxes, they should get in line for that early. For the profile or a school’s own form, meet the deadlines and don’t wait until the last minute. The schools won’t bother preparing a finaid package for you unless you are accepted to the school. </p>
<p>I don’t have any personal knowledge of Maryland financial aid programs but here is a link with information:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.mhec.state.md.us/financialAID/index.asp”>http://www.mhec.state.md.us/financialAID/index.asp</a></p>
<p>Barca…the CSS Profile is an additional financial aid application form. Completing that form will NOT NOT NOT give you an estimated financial aid award. In fact, you don’t even get an EFC from the Profile. The information Is sent to each college that requires it…that YOU designate, and those colleges plug your figures into their formulas to determine how they will award you their institutional aid money.</p>
<p>Presumably, the net price calculators for CSS Profile schools use a similar formula to give you an estimated financial aid award, and net cost…estimated.</p>
<p>You will NOT get a real financial aid award until you receive your acceptances. </p>
<p>A reminder…those net price calculators are NOT accurate if your parents are divorced, own a business, are self employed, or have real estate in addition to your primary residence.</p>
<p>You are fortunate to have some great instate public universities in Maryland. In addition, their community college system has good articulation agreements with the four year schools for community college transfers. </p>
<p>Given your financial situation and you current GPA, you would be wise to explore ALL options that have potential affordability, including the community college option, and commuting to college to save money.</p>
<p>I am completely confused by this post. So let me see if I can get this straight:</p>
<p>You wanted to fill out the 2014-2015 FAFSA, (This years’ FAFSA, which covers students who are attending college this month and this coming Spring). </p>
<p>So before talking to your parents about how much they can contribute, you are jumping the gun and contacting FAFSA and assuming that you will be filling out all of these Financial aid forms.
There is an order to things and the posters here have tried to help so I’ve put together a list that I hope will streamline what order things need to be done. The other posters can edit whatever I’ve missed. </p>
<p>-Firstly, study to increase your GPA, do not slack off in your senior year of high school.
-Talk to your parents about costs, what they realistically can pay per year towards your expenses. Everyone has to pay, even EFC’s of 0. Some financial aid awards do not pay room and board.<br>
-Go to each college’s website and READ the total costs, then fill out the NPC to see if it even makes sense to apply.
-Apply to your in-state colleges beginning in November 2014 or whenever the posted deadlines require it.
-January 1, 2015, the FAFSA is available so, if you are a citizen or permanent resident, you can fill out a FAFSA application and you should establish your student pin number. Your parents will also have to establish a pin.
-Wait for April 1 decisions from the colleges.
-If your colleges require a CSS Profile, and that’s IF your colleges require it, you fill it out and send it in and you will receive an email that tells you when and where to send your CSS.</p>
<p>Full out both the FAFSA and Profile forms conforming to your college list deadlines. Those will likely vary wildly from school to school…so take note. Don’t miss the deadlines. Apply early.</p>