A Much Needed FAFSA and CSS Overview
By Karen Treon, Senior Editor & College Parent
If you have been around here for a bit, you know that we are all about normalizing talking about the cost of college. Financial aid (which means grant money for college that is distributed based on the financial needs of the student) is an important part of those conversations. Talking about financial aid involves SO MANY ACRONYMS! In this blog post we will provide a high level overview of two of the most important acronyms - FAFSA and CSS - and the programs and benefits behind those acronyms.
FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid)
FAFSA is an online application administered by the United States Department of Education. You find it at www.studentaid.gov. It is the gateway to grants and aid that can make college more affordable to low income families. If your family is struggling to figure out how to pay for college, completing the FAFSA is vital. To put it another way, there are very few pathways to need-based aid that don’t start with FAFSA.*
How does FAFSA work?
To submit the FAFSA, students and parents create a secure account and enter some fairly basic financial and family information. The Department of Education then pulls in tax return information directly from the Internal Revenue Service and determines the Student Aid Index (referred to as the SAI). (Note that the tax information used is from two years prior - for example if a student is submitting FAFSA in the spring of 2025 in order to start college in the fall of 2025, the tax information used would be from tax year 2023. This is true even if the family has submitted its 2024 tax returns at the time of application.) These steps start the proverbial ball rolling and the following things then take place:
First, the Student Aid Index determines whether a student is eligible for a Pell Grant. Pell Grants are free money that does not need to be paid back - ranging from around $700 to just over $7000 per year - for college costs. This money is truly “free money” - it is not a loan.
The Department of Education then shares this information (not the underlying financial information, but the SAI and related information), with schools that the student asks them to share it with. So, if a student is applying to five schools the student would list those five schools on their FAFSA and those schools would receive reports from the Department of Education.
When universities receive this information, they use the SAI and related information to determine if the student qualifies for other assistance based on their financial need. For example, some public universities award additional grants (again - money that does not need to be paid back) to students above and beyond the Pell Grant, and many private universities have similar programs.
Universities then issue a financial aid letter to students letting them know what they are eligible for.
Typically, the FAFSA opens each year on October 1. (It opened later in 2023 and 2024, but is expected to be back to an October 1 open date in 2025). Your family can do some things in advance, such as create FSA IDs - your student and the parent filling out the FAFSA will both need to apply for one. All of this can be done through the www.studentaid.gov website.
What else do I need to know about FAFSA?
Under the federal Pell Grant / financial aid process, the STUDENT is the recipient of the aid. Not the parent. This comes up often in mixed immigration families. If a student holds a social security number and is eligible for aid, that is all that matters. The parents’ immigration status does not affect the student’s eligibility.
Some families find that the tax information that their student’s SAI is based on does not reflect their current financial situation. This could be the case if a family is facing changed circumstances, such as a divorce, illness, or loss of job. In these cases, the student can appeal the award determination. The key things to remember if your family is in this situation are: (1) your student has to have submitted FAFSA in order to appeal the result, (2) your student will appeal through university financial aid offices and not through the FAFSA platform and (3) the appeal process is about changed circumstances, and students and families should be prepared to demonstrate that their circumstances have changed. The first step for any student considering appealing is to contact the financial aid office at the university / universities directly and make sure they understand the process. Forbes magazine recently published a helpful article on this topic.
Some families are pretty convinced that they will not qualify for need-based financial aid, and don’t see a point to filling out FAFSA. Every family needs to make their own decision on that, and as we have said, we won’t tell anyone what they should or shouldn’t do. But, here are a few things to know about and consider:
The www.studentaid.gov site includes an estimator - kind of like the Net Price Calculator but for FAFSA purposes. There are also calculators on financial planning websites. Using this helps eliminate speculation and guessing.
Some students know that they are unlikely to qualify for need-based assistance, but are planning to apply for merit based aid or scholarships. Some of those scholarships require that a student has submitted FAFSA - whether or not they qualify for aid doesn’t matter.
Some on-campus jobs require that the student applying has filled out FAFSA. It might not require that the student was eligible for aid, but requires a submitted FAFSA.
Students who fill out FAFSA are eligible for a yearly loan, starting at $5500 and increasing a little bit each year through college. Students don’t have to accept this loan, but it is available to activate if necessary. For some families, it makes sense to have this loan available for emergencies.
Again, every family is different, but some families choose to use these loans to ensure their student has some proverbial skin in the game, or otherwise motivate a serious and responsible approach to college.
And finally, you never know what will happen. Sometimes circumstances change. There are a few colleges that won’t consider financial need if the FAFSA was not filled out in year one.
CSS Profile (College Scholarship Service Profile)
Some colleges use the College Board’s College Scholarship Service Profile, also called the CSS. This is separate from (and in addition to) the FAFSA. See our Frequently Asked Questions below to better understand the hows and whys of the CSS.
CSS FAQs:
Why both? Can I skip FAFSA? Importantly, the FAFSA is the ONLY way to determine eligibility and qualify for FEDERAL financial aid, such as Pell Grants. Pell Grant eligibility is often a qualifying factor for other types of financial aid. Therefore, if a student is eligible to apply for federal financial aid and is seeking financial aid, FAFSA is the first step*. So don’t skip the FAFSA.
How is the CSS different? Federal financial aid (such as Pell Grants) are only one type of financial aid. Public and private universities offer other financial aid resources. Some schools determine how to distribute these other types of aid based on FAFSA information alone, but other schools want more detailed information in order to determine how to distribute this additional aid. The CSS is more detailed and requires much more information about income, assets, and financial circumstances. There are other differences too - for example, if parents are divorced, the FAFSA requires only one to submit the FAFSA, but with the CSS both of the divorced parents need to submit information.
How do I know if I have to fill out the CSS? Students and families can easily ascertain whether a school uses the CSS by looking at the financial aid section of a school’s website. They will also remind admitted students by email and via their student portals.
Sounds like a lot of work – is it worth it? Yes! Schools use the CSS to determine how to distribute institutional financial aid (in other words, non-federal financial aid). If a family doesn’t submit the CSS, their student will not be considered for that aid. A number of CSS schools are “meets needs” schools - this means that the school has a policy and practice of covering all unmet need for families that fall into certain financial categories (as defined by individual universities). These categories often extend well into the “middle class” range. These schools publicize their “meets needs” policies, usually on their websites. Again, if a family doesn’t submit the CSS to a school that requires the CSS, they won’t be considered for this level of financial aid.
The acronyms can be overwhelming, but once you break them down you will find that the to do list for financial aid is pretty simple:
Submit FAFSA!
Submit the CSS if your school requires it!
Stay in communication with your school’s financial aid office!
There are great programs out there to help families pay for college. Good luck!
*There are other avenues for students who are not eligible to submit FAFSA, such as undocumented students. Students and families in this situation should reach out directly to financial aid offices at universities for guidance and information. My Undocumented Life is also a great resource for undocumented students, and they partner with many universities to provide support and guidance to students.
