Once you’ve filed the FAFSA, your work may not be done. That’s because there’s another financial aid form, the CSS Profile. The Profile is used by about 400 private colleges to allocate their own financial aid dollars. The FAFSA and the Profile have a lot of similarities, but also some key differences. Like the FAFSA, the Profile uses parent income…
Divorce
Filing the FAFSA raises tons of questions for divorced parents. Here are some answers. Do both parents need to fill it out? The FAFSA only requires the “custodial” parent to provide income and asset data. The CSS Profile requires both parents to fill it out. Which parent is the custodial parent? Currently, the FAFSA says the custodial parent is the…
The FAFSA isn’t the only financial aid form; many students and families also need to complete the CSS Profile. The Profile is used by about 400 mostly private colleges and universities. There are a few key differences between the FAFSA and the Profile, and most families will find that the Profile calculates a higher EFC than does the FAFSA. The…
I had a great time talking financial aid and FAFSA strategies on the Hack Your Wealth podcast this week. Check it out here. Want to put this to work for you? Sign up for The College Financial Plan Masterclass. You’ll develop a detailed financial plan for college, learn strategies to maximize financial aid and merit scholarships, find out how to qualify…
About 170 pages of 2020’s year-end omnibus federal spending bill were devoted to FAFSA Simplification. Sounds almost ironic, doesn’t it? The changes aren’t all that simple, but here’s a summary. Most important, the changes come into effect for the FAFSA that will be available in the fall of 2022, for the 2023-2024 school year. That means that students who are…