In addition to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), some college-bound students must complete a second, more detailed application called the College Scholarship Service (CSS) Profile in order to receive financial aid.
The CSS Profile is operated by the College Board. About 240 institutions and scholarship programs use the CSS Profile to help determine institutional aid eligibility, per the College Board website.
Each year, over 430,000 students receive $45,000 on average per year in need-based aid from colleges, universities, and scholarship programs that use the CSS Profile, according to the College Board.
And while institutions providing more financial support to students is a good thing, the CSS Profile can be confusing for students at best, and an insurmountable barrier to aid at worst. A deep-dive article in the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2021 called the CSS Profile the, “most onerous form in college admissions.”
However, the College Board announced in September that changes were coming to the CSS Profile, some of which will make the form, “easier to complete.” Some
of these changes will take longer to implement than others. During a recent webinar, two representatives from the College Board’s financial aid programs and services division broke down the updates to the 2022-23 CSS Profile for NCAN members.
Noncustodial Parent Application Requirement
On the CSS Profile, students are asked to report all of their parents, which includes:
Biological parents.
Adoptive parents.
Current stepparents.
Current parental partners.
Current legal guardians.
Once all parents are identified, the CSS Profile then allows students to report:
The parents with whom they live.
Which parent or parents’ information will be provided on the application.
Historically, the College Board has required students’ noncustodial parents to complete a portion of the CSS Profile. It can be extremely hard, if not impossible, for some students to meet this requirement based on their family circumstances. College
Board found that 96% of CSS profile applicants who reported their second parent as “unknown” or “no contact” were unable to get their noncustodial parent to complete their portion of the application.
To reduce this barrier, members of the CSS Profile team worked with their school and scholarship partners to find a balance between schools' desire to have a full picture of their students’ finances and the fact that some families are not able to provide
noncustodial parent information.
On the 2022-23 CSS Profile, the College Board added updated answer options to the “Household Verification” question asking about the status of second biological/adoptive parents. These updated answers include:
Parent is deceased.
Single adoptive parent at the time of adoption.
A single parent of a donor-conceived child.
Parent is unknown.
Parent is incarcerated.
Legal orders or documented abuse involving the noncustodial parent.
A student has no contact with the noncustodial parent.
If a student selects any of the answers listed above, the CSS Profile will no longer require the noncustodial parent to complete the application.
If a college or scholarship program still wants noncustodial parent information and the student is unable to provide it, the student can complete a noncustodial waiver request form.
With these changes and updated choices, College Board hopes to reduce the stress of students who cannot meet the CSS Profile noncustodial parent application requirement.
CSS Profile Corrections
Another change to the CSS Profile is the opportunity for students to make corrections to their applications. College Board data showed that 10% of previous customer service calls came from students and families wanting to make corrections.
In the past, the process to make these CSS Profile corrections was manual, which could be painful and tedious for students and schools. To address this challenge, College Board wanted to: 1) add critical missing data so that schools will have everything
needed when they are reviewing applications, 2) allow students to explain any issues with their application, and 3) make sure that schools receive updates automatically.
The CSS Profile will now allow applicants to submit certain types of corrections one time. The primary focus of these changes is to allow students to add more information to their applications instead of changing existing data fields.
The first area that applicants will be able to make corrections to is incorrect dependency status. The new correction process will also allow applicants to add missing business, real estate, or farm information.
Additionally, students will also be able to add explanatory text as part of the correction process. In this section of the application, students will be able to indicate other information they believe their school or scholarship program needs to know
about their financial story.
Eliminating Fees for More CSS Profile Applicants
Unlike the FAFSA, which has “free” in its name, applicants must pay a fee to complete the CSS Profile ($25 for the initial application, plus $16 each to submit the form to additional schools). However, College Board announced that it has expanded the
eligibility requirements fee waivers, allowing more students to complete the CSS Profile for free.
The CSS Profile is now free to domestic undergraduate applicants from families with reported adjusted gross income of $100,000 or less. With this expansion, College Board predicts that the number of students who are eligible for the fee waiver will double
to 40% of applications.
Learn more about additional circumstances that make students eligible for a fee waiver here.
A Few More Updates
The CSS Profile will have customer service agents who speak Spanish, and College Board will provide other resources in Spanish.
The supplemental questions that appear at the end of the application will be reduced to four categories (from six categories in 2021-22).
Additional Resources
Watch the full December 1 webinar on CCS Profile updates by visiting the NCAN webinar archives (NCAN members only).
For more helpful tips and updates regarding the CSS Profile, visit the College Board web site.
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