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Applying for financial aid: FAFSA and CSS PROFILE

February 13th, 2017

Parents of high school seniors have likely already finalized their FAFSA and PROFILE forms, as they are now available on October 1st each year.  How nice to have that completed!

Parents of juniors, however, are just beginning to wade in to the process.  In today’s blog, we link you to an article posted by Forbes.com.  This educational writeup provides a helpful walk-through of what lies in store on the financial aid front.

The first step in receiving federal student aid for college is completing the FAFSA (Federal Student Aid) form.  The next step, for many, is the CSS PROFILE, an application required by hundreds of colleges and universities to award financial aid from sources outside of the federal government.  This task can be overwhelming and stressful; however, there is a lot of great guidance available online to guide families’ efforts.

This Forbes article provides an excellent, detailed review of the process – one of the best we’ve seen – and we encourage readers to share it with others who may benefit from the information.

Article below published January 8, 2017

Written by:  Troy Onink

If you ever wondered how your income and assets are counted against you when your child applies for college aid, and if there is anything you can do to maximize your aid eligibility — wonder no more. Updated for 2017, this comprehensive guide to college financial aid includes new tips and insights to help you estimate how much your family will be expected to contribute toward the cost of college and how to maximize your financial aid eligibility. This guide will help you gain a clear understanding of how the college financial aid system works with straight-forward explanations of expected family contribution (EFC), need-based financial aid, merit aid, and how your income and assets count against you on the FAFSA and CSS Profile college aid forms.

Applying for College Financial Aid

The process of applying for need-based financial aid for college begins by students and parents completing one or two financial aid forms, the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) and/or the CSS Profile.

Read more at Forbes >>

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