Carl Kruse Academic Profile

Nearly every student who relates to college or career school also applies for financial aid. With grants, loans, and scholarships available from federal, state, institutional, and private sources, students have valid reason to explore their financial aid options. When you apply for financial aid, you'll encounter two applications: the FAFSA and the CSS College Profile. Here is what they're and how they vary from each other.

The CSS / Financial Aid PROFILE

The College Board, a not-for-profit membership association that assists students to enter college, is comprised of more than 5,400 career colleges, trade schools, universities, and other educational organizations. The College Board administers the SAT test to high school students. But another key mission of the College Board is to assist you reduce your cost of attendance (COA). Your COA includes tuition, room and board, books, travel expenses, and other expenses connected with attending college.

The College Board administers the web CSS / Financial Aid PROFILE application (commonly referred to as the CSS Profile). Member schools accept utilize the CSS Profile application to standardize the financial aid application process and to create it easier for students. By utilizing one standardized application, it's easier for students to utilize to multiple schools.

Schools use your Carl Kruse application information to find out how much nonfederal financial aid you're eligible to receive. Nonfederal financial aid includes institutional grants and scholarships, which are subsidies that the college provides you with to assist you reduce your cost of attending college.

You fill out your CSS Profile online. There's an original fee of $25 which includes sending your application to at least one school, plus a fee of $16 for every additional school or college you want your information sent to.

Which Colleges Use the CSS Profile?

The data collected on the CSS Profile is used by almost 600 colleges, universities, graduate schools, and professional schools to find out eligibility for nonfederal student aid funds. Many private colleges, which have institutional financial aid funds, will ask students to complete both FAFSA and the CSS Profile applications. Many career colleges and public universities do not have institutional funds to distribute, and these schools may not require the CSS Profile. When you affect a college or career school, inquire at your school's admissions office or financial aid office.

FAFSA

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (known because the FAFSA) is a questionnaire that you fill out annually to find out your eligibility for federal student financial aid. Federal programs include Pell grants, Stafford loans, PLUS loans, and work-study programs. The program is administered by Federal Student Aid, which can be a company of the U.S. Department of Education. Its mission is to make sure that all eligible individuals can access federally funded or federally guaranteed financial assistance for college education.

Most accredited career colleges are eligible to administer federal Title IV education grants, and they'll ask one to fill out the FAFSA before your first tuition payment is due. The FAFSA form can be obtained online at the FAFSA website. The applying is free, and may be completed either online or printed from paper.

What's the Difference Between the Applications?

The FAFSA and the CSS profile use two different systems to calculate your expected family contribution (EFC), which can be the amount of money a college will expect you or your household to contribute, and how much the institution will award in grants and scholarships.

FAFSA wants an alternative set of financial information than the CSS Profile. Like, FAFSA ignores assets of siblings, all assets of certain families with less than $50,000 of income, and both home and family farm equity. The CSS Profile collects informative data on estimated academic year family income, medical expenses, elementary and secondary school tuition, and unusual circumstances.

The CSS Profile is generally due earlier in the entire year than the FAFSA. Individual colleges set their own due dates, and you need to plan ahead. Go to the College Board website, review the listing of colleges that interest you, and get the due dates for the one(s) you want.