What is the CSS Profile?

Creating a CSS Profile is one of the steps that some college-bound teens, as well as certain students admitted to college have to take, depending on the postsecondary institutions they are applying to or about to attend.

The CSS Profile, created and maintained by the College Board, is an online application used by many colleges and scholarship programs to determine the eligibility of college students for non-federal scholarships and grants.

Based on the College Board’s website itself, there are more than 250 institutions that use the CSS Profile.

It’s worth pointing out, though, that the number includes certain schools and departments within a college.

For a better idea of which institutions currently participate in the CSS Profile, click here.

Whether or not your top-choice school requires students to create a CSS Profile will be indicated on its website.

In most instances, applicants will be required to create a CSS Profile and complete the FAFSA, too.

Here are some colleges and universities that use the CSS Profile:

• Arizona State University
• Barnard College
• Boston College
• Bowdoin College
• Brown University
• California Institute of Technology
• Carnegie Mellon University
• Claremont McKenna College
• Columbia University
• Cornell University
• Dartmouth College
• Drexel University
• Duke University
• George Washington University
• Georgetown University
• Harvard University
• Johns Hopkins University
• Lafayette College
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Middlebury College
• New York University
• Northern Arizona University
• Pomona College
• Sewanee: The University of the South
• Stanford University
• Tufts University
• Tulane University
• University of Chicago
• University of Pennsylvania
• Vanderbilt University
• Vassar College
• Wake Forest University
• Yale University

Deadlines

Each institution of higher education has a different CSS Profile, which is why the deadline for the submission of the CSS Profile can differ — most deadlines align with admissions deadlines.

However, it pays to check with your college to be sure that you will be able to submit yours on time.

When it comes to when you should start creating a CSS Profile, the earlier, the better.

Like federal financial aid, most institutional scholarships and grants are given on a first-come, first-served basis.

So, in other words, you are more likely to get a more generous amount of aid if you apply early.

There’s something common between the CSS Profile and the FAFSA: usually both of them become available every October 1 of the year.

As a general rule of thumb, if the college requires students to fill out both the CSS Profile and FAFSA, you should complete the CSS Profile first given that the deadline for the FAFSA is June 30, which is the end of the academic year.

It doesn’t necessarily mean, however, that you should delay your FAFSA submission.

Pros of the CSS Profile

Increased Financial Aid Opportunities

As mentioned earlier, the CSS Profile allows for the determination of whether or not you are eligible to receive financial aid from the institution or external scholarship provider itself instead of the federal government.

Because you can fill out both the CSS profile and the FAFSA, too, you can enjoy increased access to scholarships and grants, institutional, private and federal alike, thus making a bachelor’s degree even more affordable.

Single Application to Multiple Colleges and Third-Party Scholarships

More than 400 different colleges and universities as well as scholarship programs in the US use the CSS Profile in deciding which students or applicants should get institutional or private financial aid.

Creating a CSS Profile allows you to submit your financial situation to several of them all at once, thus allowing you to devote much of your time and energy to polishing your college applications or completing the documents you need to submit.

A More Comprehensive Picture of One’s Demonstrated Need

Compared to the FAFSA, a CSS Profile asks for more pieces of information and therefore requires more time to complete. However, that’s a small price to pay for providing colleges and private scholarship providers a more complete picture.

As a result of this, you could get a more accurate scholarship or grant from the academic institution or scholarship program that uses the CSS Profile, which then makes earning a bachelor’s degree even more doable.

Cons of the CSS Profile

Time-Consuming to Complete

Filling out the FAFSA takes less than an hour for most students — renewing it takes about half an hour only. Meanwhile, completing the CSS Profile can take up to two hours to complete because it asks more questions than the FAFSA.

While that’s definitely a bad thing, it can also be advantageous given that the CSS Profile considers each family’s financial situation and experience unique, thus allowing colleges and scholarship programs to evaluate one’s financial need better.

Not Free Like When Submitting the FAFSA

Filling out the CSS Profile and submitting it to one institution of higher education costs $25 — submitting the CSS Profile to another college costs $16 each time.

On the other hand, completing and submitting the FAFSA is absolutely free of charge.

But the good news is that students from low-income backgrounds (whose family income is less than $100,000 per year) may be eligible for a fee waiver, which they should get their hands on before submitting their CSS Profile accounts.

Limited Usefulness

While there are some public colleges and universities that use the CSS Profile, the vast majority of those that accept it are private schools, including some of the most selective and expensive ones in the US.

Therefore, the CSS Profile is of no use to college-bound teens who are planning on attending certain public institutions and even some private colleges that instead use the FAFSA or their own proprietary financial aid applications.