You’ve slayed the FAFSA, but, alas, your primary means of financial aid may be in another castle.

One or more of the colleges you are choosing to apply to may require another form called the CSS Profile.

What is the CSS Profile?

The CSS Profile, developed and maintained by the College Board, is a more detailed look at a student’s/family’s finances that some schools (around 400 of them) use to determine financial aid eligibility. It’s like the FAFSA … but longer.

Bummer.

But filling it out is often well worth the effort.

CSS Profile Check

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Action Item: Check this list for each of your colleges. If they are on there, you get to fill out the CSS Profile. Note: There are separate columns for domestic and international students.

Don’t need to do this form for any of the your colleges? Sweet, jump down to the bit about FAFSA Verification.

Why are these colleges making me do the CSS Profile?

Typically, CSS Profile colleges are very generous to students who need financial aid, so they like to make sure they understand your family’s financial situation as much as possible before they award aid. This works for and against students in different ways.

Here are some ways a college’s choice to use CSS Profile could result in you receiving more aid than you might from a FAFSA-only school:

• Maybe your family has a ton of debt due to medical expenses … the CSS Profile accounts for that

• Maybe your family has kids in private schools … the CSS Profile accounts for that

• Maybe a tree fell on your house

• Maybe your mom is going to have a baby right before you go to college

• Maybe your parent lost her job and your family income is way different than the year the FAFSA asked about

There are more ways, but you get the idea.

The FAFSA doesn’t have a box at the end for you to explain extenuating circumstances, though you (with your parent CCed if you’d like) are welcome and encouraged to email your colleges’ financial aid offices at any time you have a question or would like them to be aware about these circumstances. (For help on this, check out the Appeal Letters post here.)

The CSS Profile, on the other hand, does everything it can to take everything into account, including allowing a special box at the end for you to explain anything that’s going on with your family that would impact their ability to pay for your college education.

On the flip side, here are some ways a college’s choice to use CSS Profile could result in your receiving less aid than you might from a FAFSA-only school:

• Maybe your family doesn’t make much, but you own and live in a multimillion dollar home … the CSS Profile accounts for that.

• Maybe you live with your mom who doesn’t make much, but your absentee dad is a bajillionaire … the CSS Profile (most of the time) accounts for that.

• Maybe the parent you don’t live with isn’t a bajillionaire, but did remarry … the CSS Profile (most of the time) accounts for your non-custodial parent’s and/or step-parent’s incomes.

• Maybe your family owns a small business that does well but wasn’t considered on the FAFSA

• Maybe your grandparents have a college fund set aside for you

While these situations are admittedly beyond your control, they will impact what colleges assess your need to be.

What do I need to do to conquer the CSS Profile?

Short answer: Click here and read the website carefully. Everything you need is there, including a helpline phone number you can call.

Step-by-step answer: 

1. Pick a time:

   • Just finished the FAFSA? Sweet! You’re already at a good starting point to knock this out now.

   • Can’t do it right now? No problem. Set aside a day—preferably sometime in October so you don’t miss any deadlines—when you have at least 2-3 hours with your parent’s undivided attention. Go ahead and jot down a day and time you think might work. You can change it later, but try not to put this off too long.

2. Create/find your College Board log in:
   The CSS Profile is under the umbrella of College Board. (Yes, the same College Board that handles the SATs and AP Exams.) So you’ll use your College Board login for your CSS Profile account.
   
   Have one? Great! Write it down someplace safe and memorable.
   
   Don’t have one yet? Create one now so it’s one less step to do later. Then write it down.

3. Have Your Parent Gather information:
   Before you get started, you’ll want to (politely) ask your parent to gather all the personal financial stuff they have available: everything from their tax forms and mortgage information to their bank accounts and investments. To give your parent an idea of the level of detail the CSS Profile may ask, tell them they may be asked how much money went into their HSA account last year. Think of this as a great way to learn all that real world stuff they never teach you in school!
   
   For families with simple finances (mom and dad work and have a checking account and a car payment and that’s basically it), the CSS Profile isn’t actually that difficult. The more financial accounts/transactions your family handles, the trickier this form can become.
   
   Your parent (and maybe your non-custodial parent) will have to set up an account as well (more on that a bit below).

4. Gather some snacks, drinks, a notepad, paper and a stapler/paperclip.

5. Get started!

This form takes a while, but you can start and stop as you need. 

Best advice: try to answer everything you can in one sitting, even if it means putting down “0” for the answers you don’t know and circling back to them. 

Just make sure you write down (on your notepad) what questions you need to go back to! The easiest way to retrace your steps is to write the section the question is under followed by the number question with a brief description of what you need to track down.

When you get to a stopping point, do two quick things:

1. Find and write down a new date (I’d recommend calling it “CSS Profile Work Day”) that works for you and your parent to tackle this again; and 

2. Staple/paperclip your notes, so everything you need is in one place when you dive back in.

Some Final Important Tips

Cost to Submit the Form

The CSS Profile does charge a fee to send to the colleges but there is a super easy fee waiver you can apply for, if you meet the criteria.

Even if you don’t meet the criteria, they still give you a break if you need to send the form to more than one college. It’s $25 for the first school and $16 for every school thereafter.

Non-custodial Parent Forms

If your parents are separated or divorced, you will complete the CSS Profile information using the same parent you used for the FAFSA. Many colleges will also require a “Non-custodial Parent Form” to be completed by the other parent and, if applicable, their spouse. You can check if your college needs to do this here.

If required by one of your colleges, your non-custodial parent will create their own account that links up with your account. They can complete the application separately from the time you and your custodial parent complete the form.

If you cannot obtain your non-custodial parent’s information, check out the CSS Profile Waiver Request for the Noncustodial Parent to see if you may be exempted from this requirement.

IDOC

After you’re all done filling out and submitting the CSS Profile to your colleges, you’ll likely need to submit documents that align with the information you submitted. You do this (most of the time) through IDOC: The College Board’s (seriously, they seem to control everything!) Institutional Documentation Service. Some colleges may send you instructions to send documents directly to them, but more and more colleges are using IDOC as a secure platform to access student documents.

See if your colleges use IDOC by checking here under the IDOC column. Jot down what you find. Check your email for IDOC information, usually sent within 48 hours of completing your CSS Profile. 

If one or more of your CSS Profile colleges uses IDOC, go here and follow the instructions carefully. (For example, if a document or form doesn’t apply to you, there is often a form you must download and complete indicating that the first form doesn’t apply to you.)

If one or more of your CSS Profile colleges doesn’t use IDOC, you’ll want to check out the college website and keep an eye on your email to find out if and how they want documents sent their way. Also be aware that schools are increasingly using their application/financial aid portals to communicate with students.

Use Your Team

Whether you need encouragement to tackle the form or help completing it, make sure to utilize your College Affordability Team. In fact, take a moment right now (if you need to) to shoot them a message letting one or more of them know you’re battling this step and what your deadline is.

Everyone on board? 

Great.

Now for the other occasional (but much less complicated) bump in the road.

FAFSA Verification: What the What?

You’ve been selected for verification. You thought you were finished. You’d won but now you find yourself back in the arena.

Not to worry. It’s not that fun, but it thankfully doesn’t take that long either. Think of it as practicing your adulting skills.

What is “verification”? 

Verification is a process about a third of students who complete the FAFSA need to go through to prove that their FAFSA forms are correct and therefore be eligible to receive financial aid.

Why the extra steps for some people and not others?

Well, verifying is kinda the only way they can tell if what you put in the form is true. Certain things shoot up red flags to the FAFSA system to make a student more likely to be selected. A common thing that triggers verification is not using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool to automatically input tax information. Students who don’t use the IRS DRT are almost always selected. Likewise, if a student is classified as an independent student by the FAFSA, they will likely be chosen for verification as well.

What does being selected for verification mean?

The verification process often involves sending tax transcripts (yours and your parents’) to colleges that request them. Also, if you (the student) didn’t file taxes in the year the FAFSA asks about, then you’ll need to complete a one-page form either online through the IRS website or by printing it out and mailing it.

For independent students, verification often entails providing documents proving that you are indeed independent and that vary depending on your situation: adoption papers, paperwork from your school’s McKinny-Vento (homeless student) liaison, parent death certificates, your marriage certificate, etc.

When do I need to get verification finished?

ASAP. The longer you wait to finish verification, the longer it will be until you know how much money the college is giving you.

Finally, depending on when you are reading this, there are important updates from the Department of Education here and here concerning COVID and interruptions of study.

Next Steps...

Now the ball is in the college’s court. They have your application and your financial aid forms. Now you can take a break, maybe circle back to applying for scholarships and generally chill out until you receive your financial aid award letters. 

Award letters?

Yep.

Every college that accepts you will send you a notification (most likely via snail mail or email with instructions to break into your student portal) telling you exactly how much money you’ll be getting from them and precisely how much money you’ll be paying them for the upcoming year. When you eventually get one or two of these (or want to learn where to find them) check out the very last step of Paying for College in 4 Steps here. (It’s the shortest one, by far.)