Ahhh the best time of the year, FAFSA season! Not excited? Well the counseling team at Galin sure is! When it comes to the many moving parts of the college admissions process, it’s often easy to overlook one of the most crucial elements when it comes to the feasibility of your senior attending college: the FAFSA and CSS profiles.
What is FAFSA?
The Free Application for Federal Financial Aid (better known as the FAFSA) is the bread and butter of a student’s financial projections over the course of their college career. The FAFSA form traditionally becomes available for students and families to fill out every October 1st of the calendar year, a date which coincides with the initial early admission deadlines of early November for many universities. The FAFSA seeks to obtain contextual information on the student’s and their guardian/s’ financial status in order to identify their financial need to attend college which will then be supported through a combination of federal, state, and university level financial awards.
What is CSS?
In addition to the FAFSA as a system widely used by colleges and universities, a smaller number of roughly 250 institutions also leverage the College Scholarship Service Profile in their financial process. This online financial aid application is operated through the College Board and is one way that students can apply for non federal financial aid through a select number of institutions and scholarship programs. The main difference between the FAFSA and the CSS Profile is that the latter asks for much more detailed information while also not acting as a replacement for the necessary completion of the FAFSA. All students and families should check the financial aid website of each respective school or check the full listing of participating schools on the college board in order to identify if the CSS is needed or available during the admissions process.
Completing the FAFSA or CSS Profile
Whether filling out the FAFSA or the CSS Profile families should be prepared for the litany of financial data, information, and context needed in order to make sure that their student is not only prepared for the impending early application period but also has a clear understanding of the financial implications of every college on their list. If your student is applying to their dream school through the Early Decision application round then it is in your best interest to have a solid idea of what the price tag will be should they be admitted. And across the remainder of the early admissions rounds, whether binding or nonbinding, it’s important for families to understand that while providing a significant boost to your student’s chances of admission the early rounds also come with a necessary understanding of the financial responsibilities attached to the application as well.
This is why at Galin, we encourage the college list building process and financial forecasting process to begin earlier in the high school journey as opposed to later. While our team are not financial aid experts, as professionals who have held a myriad of roles within a number of admission offices we have great experience in guiding our clients through which universities are the best fit across academic, community, and financial factors as well.
