<p>Hello, so i've heard of the FAFSA and from what i understand you fill out the FAFSA and send it to the schools you apply to. Well, I was looking at the Rice page today and it said that they CSS is required. I've never heard of it, but I know it's a collegeboard thing. Do all college's accept this? I'm trying to avoid missing deadlines... I thought the point of the commonapp was to get all the info in one place but I keep finding extra stuff on the schools' websites that i didn't know about and im scared im going to miss a deadline. Please help!</p>
<p>The common app is for admission. CSS Profile is for financial aid. You need to look at the finaid page for all colleges you apply to to see what they require. Some schools use only fafsa, the rest either use CSS profile or their own finaid forms in addition to fafsa. Start a spreadsheet for all the schools you are going to apply to, enter the requirements for finaid and the deadlines so you have everything in one place. </p>
<p>You fill out fafsa online starting Jan. 1 and submit it with two PINs, one for you and one for one of your parents. If you don’t have PINs yet, you can apply for them now at fafsa.gov. You specify which schools you want your fafsa sent to. The schools will be notified and pull your fafsa from the fafsa database when they are ready to start processing it.</p>
<p>The common ap is for admissions…it has NOTHING to do with financial aid…and it has even less to do with financial aid for private schools that require additional financial information.</p>
<p>You need to check ALL of the college websites for schools you plan to apply to…for both their application deadlines and the required submissions for financial aid applications. As you have already noticed…Rice requires the CSS Profile which is administered by the College Board. About 300 colleges require this form. If they require it, you MUST submit it to be considered for institutional need based aid. And yes, this would be in addition to the FAFSA and any other information the college requires.</p>
<p>If you are applying EA or ED, you may find that there is an early priority deadline for the Profile which is typically early November at the latest.</p>
<p>In any event…check the websites for those requirements and the deadlines…and make note of EACH school as these will vary from school to school.</p>
<p>Also, if your parents are divorced, some schools require the non-custodial parent profile as well.</p>
<p>Thank you!!!</p>
<p>I found it helpful to make a spreadsheet of all the relevant info for each school where D applied - it included whether the school required SAT/ACT scores, if they required SAT II scores, application deadlines, date tax returns were required, if the school required the CSS profile and the date for that, whether the school used iDoc, and a few other random dates/requirements I can’t think of right now. It sure helped me keep everything straight, but then I’m a bit uptight about things like deadlines and fees…</p>