You have probably noticed that the cost of a college or university education in the United States has gone up in recent years. Over the past 20 years, we have seen a 69% rise in the tuition and fees that college students need to pay each year. In 2000, the average number was $8,000 per year, while today it is over $13,000. When you factor in things like room and board for non-commuter students, the average annual cost of a college education in America rises to $35,000. This means that students will have to pay over $140,000 during the four years they are enrolled at a college or university. The cost will be even higher if you send your child to an out-of-state school or a private institution. Unless you are incredibly wealthy, you will have trouble paying for one student, let alone two or three children.
The good news is that there are ways to finance a college education. Many colleges and universities offer scholarships to help families better afford the cost. Many of these are academic, and reward a student for exceptional performance during his or her high school years. Others are set aside for athletics or other special programs like music and art. These are designed to help universities attract gifted athletes, artists and musicians to their institutions. However, the most common scholarships are needs based. These are also known as Financial Aid and were created to help low and middle income families afford the spiraling education costs.
What is FAFSA?
FAFSA stands for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. It is a standard form created by the Department of Education that should be filled out by every student planning to attend a college or university. Every college and university in America requires the FAFSA. The first time you need to complete this form is during the fall before your student graduates from high school, usually around the same time he or she is filling out college applications. In addition, you or your student will need to fill out and file a FAFSA each year he or she is enrolled in college.
The information required in the FAFSA is fairly comprehensive, so it is a good idea to get everything together before logging on to start the form. Still, you can save your progress along the way. This allows you to locate some information you may not have readily available. It also gives you the opportunity to review your FAFSA before filing it. In addition, if you are like most people, you probably won’t be able to complete the FAFSA in just one sitting.
The FAFSA has 7 different parts. Each section contains a series of questions, with the ability to save your progress as you go along. The first section is titled Student Demographics, and covers such topics as your child’s name, social security number, date of birth, state of residence, citizenship, and driver’s license number. This is pretty straightforward.
The second section of the FAFSA is the School Selection. This is where you list your child’s high school, and then add up to 10 colleges where he or she is applying for admission. This includes whether your student will be living on campus. Each of the institutions you name will receive a copy of your child’s FAFSA. If he or she is applying to more than 10 colleges, you can add these ones later on. Even if your child is considering to apply early admission or early decision to a specific school, it is always a good idea to add other colleges in case he or she doesn’t get admitted to their top choice of university.
The FAFSA goes on to cover the student’s Dependency Status in Section 3. This deals with marital status, whether the student has any dependents, homelessness, veteran status, and similar issues. The fourth sections requires Parent Demographics, including names, social security numbers, marital status, and number of children in college.
Probably the most extensive part of the FAFSA are those dealing with personal finances. Section 5 is for Parent Financials and Section 6 covers Student Financials. Fortunately, if you filed your most recent tax return electronically, you can link to the IRS website from the FAFSA and have many of the questions answered by automatic data transfer. This should save you some time, while ensuring that the information provided is accurate and consistent. Still, you will need to enter some of the answers manually, such as the value of any bank accounts you or your child have. This will help the Department of Education and the college your child plans to attend determine if he or she is eligible for needs based financial aid.
The final portion is the Sign and Submit. This is done electronically, and allows you to download a copy for your records. It is a good idea to print out a copy of the filed FAFSA for your own records. This can come in handy if there are any questions in the future about the information you provided.
What is the CSS Profile?
If your child is applying for admission to or planning to attend a private college or university, he or she will also have to fill out the CSS Profile. This stands for College Scholarship Service Profile, and is administered by the College Board. These are the same folks who provide the SAT, PSAT, and AP tests and classes. So, if your child is only applying to a State college or university (and this can be anywhere in the USA besides Florida), then you won’t need to complete the CSS Profile. Otherwise, this is used by private colleges and universities, Ivy League schools, and ones by religious institutions to help them determine Financial Aid as well.
The CSS Profile is actually longer and more in depth than the FAFSA. While most of the information is duplicative of the FAFSA, the CSS Profile has some unique requests. First, the form requires more information about each parent, such as the highest level of education, current employment status, residence ownership and value, and personal assets. Also, unlike the FAFSA, there is no link to the IRS website so you will have to answer each tax return question yourself. Since there is no link, the College Board requires that you upload things like parents’ and student’s tax returns, most recent W-2s from employers, and other documentation.
There is one part of the CSS Profile that can be very helpful for students from low income families. There is a section toward the end called Special Circumstances. This is where you can write about a financial impact on your family caused by a recent change in employment, exceptional medical or dental expenses, eldercare expenses, and similar hardships. After checking the appropriate boxes, you can then type a short paragraph explaining what happened to your familiar. This is limited to 2000 characters, so you need to be direct and to the point.
Some of the colleges that require the CSS Profile may also request additional information not normally submitted with the form. For example, Brandeis University in Massachusetts asks for the business tax returns for parents who own businesses. Princeton University in New Jersey has an additional Undergraduate Financial Aid Form as well. If you list any college that requires such supplements, you will be advised by the College Board upon filing of the CSS Profile.
What are some helpful tips?
Before starting the FAFSA and CSS Profile, you should get your most recent tax return and bank statement, as well as that of the student who will be applying to college. You should also make a list of each college and university where your child plans to apply. You will also need your child’s FAFSA student I.D. and College Board I.D., as well as his or her passwords. If they don’t have one, you can always get one through the FAFSA and College Board websites. You will need these to log into the applications. If you don’t have your own computer or laptop and plan to work at a public space like a library, please remember to save the work you are doing within the application, but do not save the information onto the computer itself. Both the FAFSA and CSS Profile ask for private information that you probably do not want to share with your neighbors.
There is no filing fee for the FAFSA, but there is a $25 fee for the initial CSS Profile. Additional reports cost $16. However, if you have a family income below $100,000, the College Board will waive the fee for the CSS Profile.
If you have any questions, our guidance staff at Dade Prep Academy will be happy to help you. Completing and filing the FAFSA and CSS Profile will help open doors to many of the top colleges and universities around the country for you and your child.
Sources:
