<p>what happens when younger siblings head off to college? Wouldn't the css profile info filed as a frosh be outdated? How about other financial changes over these years?</p>
<p>My son is a junior at an LAC, we fill out the FAFSA and CSS profile every year. I think you do it if the school you wish to attend requires it. And yes, I’m sure an updated version would be required for a younger sibling if the schools they are applying to use the CSS profile.</p>
<p>my son’s school requires the CSS profile to be filed just once…this is what has me confused. Financial info entered as a frosh will be outdated a few years later…and how does the school know about younger siblings, just from the FAFSA? The CSS profile asks how many in the household will be in college for that current year…</p>
<p>I believe the FAFSA asks that as well, doesn’t it?</p>
<p>^ yes, but you have to file the FAFSA each year…They must figure out how many in college by looking just at the FAFSA, not a 2 year old CSS profile.</p>
<p>I imagine that those colleges that just require Profile one time as a freshman simply base their aid on that moment in time. I would imagine that if something major happened that pressured income/assets downward in subsequent years that financial aid would be willing to review if asked. Clearly, if income/assets increase it’s a “win” for the family - so it works both ways. FAFSA needs to be filled out all four years.</p>
<p>Does the college require NCP info with the one-time profile? I can see taking a one-time detailed snapshot of the family’s finances and then adjusting based on the fafsa each subsequent year. But the fafsa doesn’t include NCP info in the case of divorced/separated parents.</p>
<p>FAFSA only pertains to federal aid so NCP would have no bearing on the distribution of Federal aid each year. Imagine a lower income family with a Pell eligible college student…the college would probably ask for the FAFSA each year to determine if the student were Pell eligible each year.</p>
<p>FAFSA can be used to distribute institutional aid, many schools are FAFSA only and give some institutional aid based on FAFSA. So not having NCP info subsequently if it was asked for initially means institutional aid couldn’t be properly adjusted with reference to the NCP’s changing economic situation.</p>
<p>Again, if there is a very significant decrease in the income or assets at one of these few colleges that does not review Profile each year I imagine the family could ask for a financial aid review but I suspect it would need to be significant relative to the two households since often the new households include more than the bio mom in one household and the bio dad in another household. Potentially a student could have four income earning adults impacting their aid. But that’s just me guessing why these colleges don’t feel the necessity of reviewing all the documentation every year.</p>