Most families are somewhat familiar with the FAFSA. As parents you either completed it for yourselves years ago, or maybe you’ve done in the past for one of your students. As the years have gone by more and more of the families I work with are being faced with the CSS profile. That is due to a combination of students adding more selective colleges to their application list, as well as more colleges moving towards the CSS Profile for financial aid determination. My daughter is applying to 4 schools that require the CSS Profile, which is about 4 times more than the average family I helped 7 years ago but is the norm for families I work with today.

If you are a parent of a potential private or highly selective college student you may want to become familiar with some of the key differences between the FAFSA and the CSS Profile to make sure you do the proper planning to maximize your financial aid potential. Let’s not forget that private and highly selective universities and institutions often have much more money and usually more generous with scholarships for the students they admit compared to their public school counterparts.

What you don’t know can cost you!