Month: September 2021

CSS Financial Aid Profile is now free for more families

moneyman

The CSS Financial Aid Profile is a secondary financial aid application used by many colleges to award their own financial aid (specifically grants offered by private not-for-profit colleges). The application is required to qualify for institutional grants at those colleges that ask for the form. Since we know that the largest source of grants for college is institutions (colleges and universities), if you are attending one of these colleges that require the CSS Financial Aid Profile, you better make sure it is on your list of forms to complete.

CSS Financial Aid Profile!

So here’s some good news. The CSS Financial Aid Profile has a cost ($25 to register and $16 per school). This can get expensive if you are applying to a lot of colleges that need the CSS Profile, but the College Board has expanded the eligibility for fee waivers. Starting with the 2022-23 CSS Profile, students from families earning less than $100,000 will qualify for free submission, and this will make access to the application much easier for families as they apply for aid.

Here are some resources for you:

  1. The announcement of the fee waiver from the College Board.
  2. The list of colleges which require the CSS Financial Aid Profile.
  3. Great resources to get started with the CSS Financial Aid Profile.

Can it really already be October 1?

moneyman

How did the year go by so fast? Can it almost be October 1 again already?

Phew!

So much has happened in the last year, and Moneyman has been busy with the details of his day job, so apologies for the lack of updates. He promises to do better this year!

As we get ready for another year’s worth of FAFSA updates and changes, it is time to share some resources with you.

  1. Here is a copy of the PowerPoint presentation Moneyman uses when speaking about financial aid to high school students and their parents. Once the video replay is available, we can share that link as well.
  2. Here is a copy of the PowerPoint presentation shared with Florida High School Guidance Counselors by Moneyman and others recently covering a lot of the same information. You can watch a replay of the session here or here.

Feel free to follow along this year. Moneyman (me — that’s me) commits to more frequent updates as things happen this year.