<p>I kno it is some form of Financial Aid, but I can't figure out specifically what I need to do and who Im sending it to and all. Im the oldest, my parents and I are clueless. Thanks for your help.</p>
<p>im in the same boat</p>
<p>Check this site. <a href="http://www.finaid.org/fafsa/%5B/url%5D">http://www.finaid.org/fafsa/</a></p>
<p>It should answer your questions about financial aid and give you links to the other sites you'll need. FAFSA is the form for federal aid, which almost every school requires. You can fill it out online and have it sent to your schools. The CSS Profile is a different form which some private schools require, sometimes in addition to FAFSA. You can also do this online. CSS calculates your need a little differently than the FAFSA. I don't remember exactly, but I think you have to wait until January 1 to fill out the FAFSA forms, and can do CSS Profile now, although it's not due until late winter usually. Each school has their own due dates for you to file.</p>
<p>Iplayoboe, your best bet is to check with the financial aid office of each school to which you are applying to find out what they need and the due dates for each item. Just about all schools will want the FAFSA results. Some private schools may want the CSS Profile; a few schools even have "custom" questions on the profile. Many colleges have their own financial aid application form, too. A few may require copies of tax returns to be filed with the other paperwork.</p>
<p>The key thing is not to assume anything - check with the aid office, and if something isn't clear, keep asking until they clarify it.</p>
<p>To get a rough idea of what FAFSA-based schools will expect you to pay, try the EFC</a> Calculator. This is an approximation, as assumptions and methodologies will vary, but it's a start.</p>
<p>thank you Over30 and Roger_Dooley! you both helped a lot! :)</p>
<p>Get real familiar with the FAFSA. If you are appling for any $, PELL, subsidized and unsubsidized STAFFORDS, PLUS, Private, etc...they will probably WANT the FAFSA. Get yor parents used it it because they will need to supply the alot of the information. Also FAFSA will need to be updated yearly if you are applying for annual FA's. Be sure that remember your ID and PW, which will be carried to following years. AND complete the signature page. </p>
<p>UNDERSTAND how the loan programs work. A misunderstanding will cost you $$$. It's not the interest that counts but how you pay that reduce the cost of going to school.</p>
<p>The Profile is similar to the FAFSA but is required by many of the selective schools in addition to the FAFSA. It is administered by the College Board, the people who bring you the SAT. You can apply on line at <a href="http://profileonline.collegeboard.com/index.jsp%5B/url%5D">http://profileonline.collegeboard.com/index.jsp</a></p>
<p>The Profile considers many of the same financial issues as the FAFSA but it also considers other issues. For instance, home equity is considered in the Profile but not the FAFSA.</p>
<p>Almost every school will ask you for the FAFSA which willdetermine your eligibility for federal funds such as the ones that "itstoomuch" mentioned. </p>
<p>The CSS profile is mostly used by schools that have institutional funds to distribute. It is pretty much gives a more detailed breakdown of your money. While many school suse this form, others have their own financial aid form that they will want you to fill out in addtion to the FAFSA.</p>
<p>Hi iplayoboe. I JUST finished filling out the CSS Profile with my husband for our son (and yes I now have a headache!). If you go to the College Board website and pay the registration fee, print the instructions and worksheet version of the from, it really isn't too bad. Doing it now is a little odd because your parents won't have their tax info. But you'll probably have to estimate for any school you're applying to at all early anyway. Just follow the instructions, and you won't go too far wrong.</p>
<p>If you run into trouble, you can always get help here, I'm sure. The help feature at the site isn't very helpful, but people here generally are! Try the parents' forum if you have a question and don't get an answer here. I'm sure they'll help you and your folks.</p>
<p>i gotta do this soon, but it's somewhat odd to have to pay money to get financial helps.
if i can get a fee waiver for SAT, can i also get a fee waiver for PROFILE ??</p>
<p>(i know it sounds that i am cheapo - sure i am, REALLY this college admission and all tests and exams i gotta take is killing me and my parents.)</p>
<p>Yes, you get automatic fee waivers if and only if you are low-income enough. What that means is known only to the College Board, since these waivers are calculated automatically when you process your form after filling it out.</p>
<p>I hope you get your fees waived, but you just have to wait and see, I suppose.</p>
<p>As I suggested, print and read the instructions, and all will become clear.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>thanks ctymomteacher and everyone, ive tried about a dozen times to sit my mom down and type in her credit card info to get the registration completed, and she keeps avoiding the task... i think the idea of paying so much for college is really scaring her, but hey! if she doesnt fill out the paper work, we wont get ANY aid...
so now for a new question.. how do you calm your parents down about this whole thing? or parents, how do you handle the stress? I mean, shes more nervous and skizzed out than i am.. im the student, shouldnt i be the one going spaztic?</p>
<p>I'm in the same situation as iplayoboe. My mom just refuses to fill out the FAFSA and PROFILE. She only makes $13,000 a year, but she has a lot of money stashed away for her retirement. "We wouldn't qualify for anything! It's a waste of time. Plus, you're going to State anyways." (San Francisco State, like $2000/year)</p>
<p>It's making me really upset. We won't know what schools will offer me unless she fills out that form. What if some school to which I'm applying will offer so much aid that it ends up being cheaper than State? She doesn't seem to understand.</p>
<p>If your mother makes only $13,000 and your father is non-existent, you would be eligible for a pell grant (which could possibly even make your $2000 a year school free), but it can't happen unless she fills out the FAFSA. Your EFC would probably be so low that you would most likely get great packages at schools that have money and meet 100% of your financial need with grant aid (ie: Ivys, elite LACS) Some of the schools probably would be cheaper than attending state.</p>
<p>IF you are going to a school that requires both the FAFSA and the CSS profile (the profile does take into consideration, who old your parent is, the number of years to reirement and protects some of that reirement income,). </p>
<p>For example given your mother's income, if you were accepted to Williams, you would probably get so close to a free ride (probably no loans, mostly grant aid and some work study for incidentials). Even when applying for schools and filling out the profile like Ctymomteacher stated you would probably get fee waivers so it would not cost you anything to file the profile.</p>
<p>She should not be afraid to fill out the forms. Have you tried using one of the financial aid calculators so that she could see for her self that state university is not your only option for obtaining a good affordable education. all the best</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply. I think she's also concerned about one of her investments that paid off last year. I may have made a mistake in my last post by calling her income $13,000. That's just her salary. Most of the rest of her money is in investments. I tried to do that EFC calculator, but she wouldn't tell me enough information to even input estimated numbers. She may be right that FAFSA won't offer anything, but as you mentioned, I'm sure CSS will take into consideration more of the situation my family is in. (Yes, my dad died 5 years ago.) But my mom just won't fill them out. I don't know what to say anymore to convince her to do them.</p>
<p>The FAFSA is the basis of all financial aid. IF she does not fill it out, you will not be considered for any type of financial aid (this may even include some scholarship searches that are baed on need).</p>
<p>Unless she hit the lotto, you still probably have a good chance of obtaining financial aid. The sad thing is that if you think the cost of an education is expensive, try the cost of ignorance. Unless you are independently wealthy your should never assume that you are not eligible for financial aid (because even children of the independently wealthy may get merit aid not based on income)</p>
<p>There's just no reason to be worried about doing these forms. LOTS of retirement savings is protected--WAY more than we have, and the older your mom is, the more they'll protect. Here's a suggestion: Try finding a chart on one of the unis you're interested in that shows who applied for aid according to income and who got it and how much they got. I know U Chicago has one on their admissions site. It's amazing how much aid they give to high-income people!</p>
<p>That chart also shows that the amount of aid can bring their (expensive!) school's cost down to below that of UNC-CH, which is our in-state top choice. Looking at such a chart might calm your mom's fears considerably.</p>
<p>At the same time, filling out these forms IS frustrating and time-consuming, so make sure you ask her to do it when she's calm and has a couple of hours and has her last year's tax forms to hand. Setting it all up that way will make it all easier. It would have been MUCH harder for me if I had had to do it alone, so try to help her. If you make it a "together" project, you'll probably find her a lot more amenable to the idea.</p>
<p>Good luck with everything!</p>
<p>Thanks a bunch, sybbie719 and ctymomteacher. I'll get her this weekend. ;)</p>
<p>also another concern, althought not a big deal.. maybe
i thought Collegeboard's going to charge money after i fill out all form
and (heard) that they will waive fees if financial situation according to PROFILE
is low.. but it looks like they are going to charge my parents NOW (as registering it)
are they going to refund if later i become to qualify for a waive???</p>
<p>thanks.</p>
<p>Dreaming,</p>
<p>You may have to speak to someone live at the college board to find out how this happens. maybe they give you some sort of code, i don't know.</p>