What is the CSS Profile?

How can it help me?

The CSS Profile stands for the College Scholarship Service Profile.. It is an online application offered by the College Board for nonfederal financial aid. The CSS Profile is used by almost 300 colleges, universities, professional schools, scholarship programs, and scholarships.

Similar to the FAFSA, this application considers student and parent financial information in order to signify how much nonfederal financial aid the student is elibigle.However, the information you’ll need to provide for the CSS Profile is much more in depth than the FAFSA. Also dissimilar to the FAFSA, this application is not free. The CSS Profile has a $9 base Fee and it costs an additional $16 per school. However, the CSS profile can be a good bang for your buck. If you’re curious to see your expected Financial Need, as calculated on the CSS Profile, in order to get a feel for the total financial aid that might be available to them, check out our free calculator.

The CSS Profile is available for for completion starting October 1st. The application has no set national deadline, however students who are applying for Early Decision programs have a CSS Profile deadline of November 1st.

Even if the CSS Profile is not required by your desired Universities, if it is accepted by your chosen schools then filling out is a no-brainer. Due to its thorough nature, the CSS Profile can qualify students for enormous nonfederal financial aid packages funded by their college.

The application process for the CSS Profile is very involving, which is why it is important to learn the ins and outs of procedure through practicing. Go Financial Aid offers a Free CSS Profile Worksheet. This worksheet provides a nice overview. For additional assistance consider financial aid consulting. Go Financial aid is ready to help you work through every step of the financial aid process

All Blog Posts >

More on 

CSS Profile

apply today

Tired of writing scholarship essays?

We don't blame you! Take a break from writing and apply for our Recycled Essay Scholarship today.

Learn More
newsletter

Useful insight and advice in your inbox.

Sign up for the latest updates on applying for college financial aid -- delivered right to your inbox.
* We don't share your data. See our Privacy Policy
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Stay up to date with the latest from Grantford.