<p>parent56- was Santa Clara the school that insisted you need the CSS?</p>
<p>nope it was rhodes college and if i remember correctly they also said it was needed for consideration of any work study</p>
<p>Karen have you applied to SCU and get their request to fill CSS? We did.</p>
<p>The CAR question???
That just seems . . .really intrusive to me. Why it should seem any more intrusive than revealing all your other financial info, I don’t know. Or maybe not intrusive . . .maybe a scary level of detail? Or trivial? Or just asking too much?
Sheesh.</p>
<p>Pixel-- D applied and got the email requesting the CSS. Seems like there should be a short form for those not eligible for need based aid.</p>
<p>Karen, I agree. Son got that email too. It is due today! It costs over 25/- to send the form.</p>
<p>Campus jobs can be funded with federal funds at times, even those not specifically designated work/study. And as others have pointed out, the distributution of merit vs need-based funds are take into account family financial info.</p>
<p>Although it’s a pain, I see why colleges ask for the forms. If no aid at all in the form of grant, loan or job will be forthcoming nor is desired, you probably don’t need to fill out them.</p>
<p>The business and farm supplement is the killer.</p>
<p>Does the car ques ask about mileage/condition.
DHs car has lots of dahsboard lights on/etc, a window that won’t go up if you put it down and about 125k miles…
My car has 118k miles </p>
<p>and
we keep praying they will keep running…as we cna’t afford car payments…</p>
<p>fogfog: You can send a letter to financial aid telling them anything you want. We did. H’s situation was just so baffling – how he went from a successful business to being $300K in the hole and owing everyone.</p>
<p>We explained exactly what happened, why we were still keeping the business going, what it meant in terms of disposable income, and even why we had a late model car in the midst of the mess (bought by the business before the excrement hit the air conditioning.) I can’t say of hand how influential our “explanations” were, but we have now gotten five years of FA between the two kids. No where near “full-ride”, but enough to make their dreams just doable.</p>
<p>I felt uncomfortable with the car question. Yes, I had a Saab. It also had 130K. Yes, H has a newish Chrysler Pacifica, but it was only a $21,000 new, and he needed it to transport not only kids to college, but all his photography equipment to jobs.</p>
<p>We did write explaining all this.</p>
<p>Made us feel better, and we did get aid.</p>
<p>So, all’s well that end’s well I think.</p>
<p>I noticed a lot of questions on the CSS PROFILE (required for several colleges to which my son is now applying) that suggest that families with children who apply to those colleges are sometimes very sophisticated about tax-sheltering family income and assets. The FAFSA is a more natural fit for families with simple asset and income situations (like ours, actually), while the CSS PROFILE does take a more nuanced view, getting closer to the reality of genuine ability to pay for families with unusual income sources or unusual patterns of asset ownership. (I was quite amused by the series of questions about mortgaged houses that my son owns–which don’t exist–in contrast with mortgaged houses his parents own, which don’t exist either.)</p>
<p>The FAFSA and the CSS Profile use different methodologies for distibuting financial aid.</p>
<p>At minimum you file the FAFSA (at almost every school) to determine your eligibility for federal aid (Pell/ seog grants, stafford and perkins loans). Most public univeristies will just require the fafsa (the exception may be UVA, UNC- CH, Mich and a few others which may require their own forms)</p>
<p>The CSS profile is used at different colleges that distribute their own institutional aid (Many of these schools have much deeper pockets).</p>
<p>Many schools that use a federal methodology to determine EFC will require only the FAFSA. Schools that use an instutional methodology or a combination of the 2 will require the CSS profile or their own FA forms.</p>
<p>Differences between the IM and FM models are</p>
<p>IM collects information on estimated academic year family income, medical expenses, elementary and secondary school tuition and unusual circumstances. FM omits these questions.</p>
<p>IM considers a fuller range of family asset information, while FM ignores assets of siblings, all assets of certain families with less than $50,000 of income, and both home and family farm equity.</p>
<p>FM defines income as the adjusted gross income on federal tax returns, plus various categories of untaxed income. IM includes in total income any paper depreciation, business, rental or capital losses which artificially reduce adjusted gross income.</p>
<p>FM does not assume a minimum student contribution to education; IM expects the student, as primary beneficiary of the education, to devote some time each year to earning money to pay for education.</p>
<p>FM ignores the noncustodial parent in cases of divorce or separation; IM expects parents to help pay for education, regardless of current marital status.</p>
<p>FM and IM apply different percentages to adjust the parental contribution when multiple siblings are simultaneously enrolled in college, and IM considers only siblings enrolled in undergraduate programs.</p>
<p>The IM expected family share represents a best estimate of a familys capacity (relative to other families) to absorb, over time, the costs of education. It is not an assessment of cash on hand, a value judgment about how much a family should be able to use current income, or a measure of liquidity. The final determinations of demonstrated need and awards rest with the University and are based upon a uniform and consistent treatment of family circumstances.</p>
<p>Except in the most extraordinary circumstances, Colleges classifies incoming students as dependent upon parents for institutional aid purposes, even though some students may meet the federal definition of independence.</p>
<p>Students enrolling as dependent students are considered dependent throughout their undergraduate years when need for institutional scholarships is determined.</p>
<p>For institutional aid purposes a student may not declare independence due to attainment of legal age, internal family arrangements, marriage or family disagreements.</p>
<p>The profile will take into consideration tuition for children attending high school. They may consider school expenses outside of high school for special needs children. They will consider unreimbursed medical expenses and taking care of eldering parents.</p>
<p>Your COA (cost of attendance) is tuition, room board, books travel expenses and some misc. expenses associated with attending college.</p>
<p>The only school I know of that promises to meet 100% of need without CSS PROFILE is Grinnell, which requires its own (free) institutional form. The rationale given, which I think is wonderful, is that you shouldn’t have to pay in order to apply for financial aid.</p>
<p>Thank you Sybbie for posting such a long and thoughtful comparison of the two. It is particularly timely for our family as I am in the process of completing the CSS today. Having a better understanding of what they are looking for and why makes this process seem somewhat less painful.</p>
<p>I know it seems like a headache to have to complete and pay for the submission of the Profile. BUT if you get need based institutional aid from the school(s), the cost of the application will seem like a drop in the bucket.</p>
<p>Hi Sybbie. Great job. You’re an amazing resource.</p>
<p>^ Agreed. I always appreciate sybbie719’s posts.</p>
<p>Great post, so, Sybbie, is there any reason that a college would need the CSS if a student is only eligible for merit aid?</p>
<p>
Yes, it was complicated. We didn’t know how the privates would look at dh’s business (our older son went to a state university which used only FAFSA info), so we took a gamble and let s apply to privates (ones that met 100% of demonstrated finaid need, with the exception of one where he would be in line for substantial merit aid, which he did end up getting). </p>
<p>I made a mistake in my earlier post. S applied to 12 private colleges/universities and three state universities. So the CSS info got sent to 12 schools. </p>
<p>Thumper is right – yes, there is expense in sending the Profile (and in college applications, period). But the ultimate benefit can be very worthwhile! (We still consider this to be the case, even though s ended up with a full-ride merit scholarship.)</p>