Private colleges often have more money available to distribute as grants to their students than do publicly-funded institutions. Rather than relying solely on the FAFSA for their needs analysis, these schools may also ask financial aid applicants to complete their own institutional aid form or may utilize the services of CSS’s Profile. The Profile provides a more complete picture of a family’s finances and has a section where families can discuss special circumstances that relate to their ability to contribute to their child’s education.
Register for your Profile application at www.collegeboard.com under the section “pay for college.” Sign up to create a user name and password, and complete the pre-application worksheet and application. After answering the registration questions, select the colleges and programs that will receive your Profile report, and pay the processing fee. After registering, print out the Supplemental Information worksheet to learn about any additional information that will be required by your selected colleges. Complete the online application at any time after registering. You can save the information and complete it in sections at your leisure.
Submit the completed application at least a week before the priority filing date specified by your colleges, since it takes about a week for information to reach these programs. A list of all colleges and programs that require the Profile can be found online at www.collegeboard.com.
