Episode 85: Breaking down the FAFSA and CSS Profile

Transcript for Episode 85: Breaking down the FAFSA and CSS Profile

• Transcript for Episode 85: Breaking down the FAFSA and CSS Profile

  [EPISODE]

  [0:00:07] BHA: There's no shortage of acronyms in higher education, but perhaps none are more important for prospective students than FAFSA and CSS.

  [0:00:15] BT: For students and families seeking financial aid, these are the essential forms you'll need to submit. I'm Brooke Thames from Bucknell University.

  [0:00:22] BHA: And I'm Becca Haupt Aldredge, also from Bucknell. Today we'll break down these financial aid forms, the differences between them, and some tips for using the FAFSA and CSS to secure aid at schools on your list.

  [0:00:35] BT: Our guest is a returning voice to the podcast. Erin Wolfe is Director of Financial Aid here at Bucknell. Welcome back to the podcast.

  [0:00:42] EW: Thanks, Brooke. Thanks, Becca.

  [0:00:44] BT: Before we jump in, can you reintroduce yourself to our listeners and what your role is as Director of Financial Aid?

  [0:00:50] EW: Sure. Thanks again for having me back. I'm the Director of Financial Aid here at Bucknell, and I've been here six years, and in my role as a director for one and a half years here at the institution. But have been working in higher education for over 20 years. Certainly have seen a lot of changes in financial aid since I started in higher education. I'm happy to fill you in on what I do here.

  My job has many different buckets, first and foremost, really focusing on policy development, where I create and focus on implementing financial aid policies and procedures, all with the big word of "compliance" as our main focus for federal, state and institutional policies that we have. I have a team of, there's a total of 10 of us, so management and supervision, focusing on training and development of my team is very important. Biggest part of the job is working with finance on budgeting. Certainly we have a very ample institutional budget for financial aid, but there's a lot of different levers that we have to watch and monitor within that budget. I focus on advising students, so whether it's regarding the financial aid application process, eligibility, study abroad questions, you name it, we'll sit down and certainly work with any student who has questions related to affording their education.

  Data analysis is another big part of the work I do. Certainly, I'm looking at a lot of data, but I'm analyzing it to figure out best practices and things that we could be changing and improving in our workflows to make sure there's no barriers in our process and really make sure that we have really done our best to communicate the changes that we want to implement here at the institution.

  The other two pieces are certainly outreach. So working with students, whether they're prospective students, current students, graduates, working with my colleagues and admissions and other areas on campus to explain financial aid. Getting out talking to families, community groups to understand how financial aid does work to make sure that they're looking at our institution and having a plan to really think about what a four-year opportunity looks like and affording that education.

  Last but not least is collaboration. A lot of the work we do requires us to work with campus partners in admissions, student life, residence life — so we have our hand in the campus and in many different areas.

  [0:03:10] BHA: Thanks for the recap, Erin. It's a great reminder of what we learned in our previous series, which is that financial aid can be complex. We're glad to have you back to help bring some clarity to two of the most important elements in the aid process. Let's start with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. What is it? What does it mean for students and their families?

  [0:03:31] EW: Great question. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or called FAFSA, is the form that our students and families will complete to be eligible for any type of financial aid for college. Just to break down what that looks like for families: No. 1 one, let's focus on access. Completing the FAFSA is essential for accessing federal financial aid programs, including grants, work-study and federal student loans. Many state application processes for state financial aid will use the application as well to determine funding sources from their own entities. Colleges alike will use the FAFSA. Some schools will use that for determining their institutional aid, but we're going to talk a little bit about the College Board Profile later and how that works for other type of institutions, how those two applications do compare.

  We use the FAFSA to determine financial need. I know we've talked about financial need and that process in former podcasts that we've worked together on, but that FAFSA is going to collect information related to the family's financial situation and is going to calculate what's now called the Student Aid Index, or SAI. That information is going to be helpful in determining a student's financial need.

  The application also looks at eligibility for grants. The main type of grant that a student could be eligible for from the FAFSA is the Federal Pell Grant. That is an entitlement program. I believe we've talked about that in the past, but that is free grant dollars from the federal government. Not all students will be eligible for that form of grant aid, but for us to really have a good understanding of a family's ability to pay for college, we need that Student Aid Index and that will allow us to determine a student's Pell Grant eligibility.

  I did talk a little bit about the access to federal student loans. Families will have to decide if borrowing is something they would like to do for college, but by completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, students can access both the subsidized and unsubsidized student loan programs, and parents have an opportunity to apply for direct parent plus loans as well if that's something that is needed to afford those higher educational expenses.

  I did mention just a bit ago about state financial aid. Here specifically in Pennsylvania, we work with the PHEAA organization for determining our Pennsylvania state grant dollars, but students from all over the country may have access to state grants. The FAFSA is going to be their main application, so understanding the timelines and deadlines for their particular states is going to be an important part of the process.

  Then what we do, once we have that FAFSA application, we developed that financial aid award, as we call it, some schools may refer to it as a "package," an "award notification," but that's where we put together the combination of institutional dollars, in forms of grants or scholarships, work-study and student loans.

  I think the most important part of the FAFSA process is really understanding the timelines and the schools' deadlines, and we'll talk about deadlines later in our podcast. As you're navigating the higher education landscape and you're looking and comparing your universities, you want to focus in on the deadlines for the financial aid applications. It's really important to not leave money on the table. So making sure you're getting a calendar aligned and really paying attention to what the school is requiring from the financial aid application process, but also, specifically making sure you're not meeting those deadlines.

  [0:06:59] BT: What I'm hearing is that the FAFSA is essential for students and families to be able to know what they qualify for at several different levels, and for the colleges and universities that they're applying to to be able to craft a package that suits their needs specifically. Once that package or award has been calculated, does that financial aid cover all four years of a student's college experience? In other words, is the FAFSA a one-and-done deal?

  [0:07:26] EW: That's a great question. I will tell you my famous word in financial aid — a phrase, really — is, "it depends." Going back and just thinking about…Let's talk about merit scholarships in terms of academic and other awards students may receive, schools will typically award those year over year, provided a student meet a GPA requirement or participate in a particular major. In thinking about the FAFSA though, this is where you're going to want to talk with the financial aid office and understand, again, what is required from year over year.

  A financial aid package typically covers one academic year at a time and not all four years of college. It can be renewed annually, so schools will want families to apply year over year, again, for the following factors: No. 1, eligibility. Students must continue to meet eligibility requirements, such as maybe maintaining a certain GPA, or making what we call "satisfactory academic progress," which is a policy all schools have in place to make sure that they're completing the timeline and the amount of credits required to graduate on time.

  FAFSA submission is going to be required year over year to be eligible for, again, those federal Pell grants, potentially the state grants, and federal student loan eligibility. We must go back, look at the family's financial profile, just to see if there's any changes in the situations that have occurred in the household, but also having a better understanding of if the cost of the institution has changed, what access our families will have for financial aid.

  Availability of funds is also something that can impact a family. Institutionally, we have certain campus-based funding sources that we receive from the federal government. For us to be able to award those to a student, they do need to reapply through that FAFSA application, and that's where I go back to the timeline. We only receive a certain amount of funding for something called the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant. If a student doesn't apply by our deadlines, there's a probability that they're not going to be eligible for those funds due to that late application, when we have to award and stretch those dollars that we receive from the federal government to the population that is eligible.

  Again, while some forms of aid, like certain scholarships or grants, may be renewable for multiple years, it's important for our students and families to review and reapply for financial aid annually to secure funding for their entire college experience.

  [0:09:59] BHA: Thanks, Erin, for getting into some of those nuances, because those are important things that students should keep in mind, so they're not leaving money on the table, like you said. We know that the FAFSA is almost always used by colleges in the US to determine a student's financial aid package, but it's not the only tool. There's also the College Scholarship Service Profile, or CSS Profile, which you mentioned, which is another form that students and families may be required to fill out. Can you tell us why that tool is useful and what makes it different from the FAFSA?

  [0:10:32] EW: Sure. The CSS Profile is a financial aid application used by many colleges and universities. I want to say, it's probably somewhere over 400 or 500 institutions right now. I don't have the exact number. But a lot of private institutions are using that to assess a student's financial need. Here's just some things, as I break down the differences between FAFSA and the CSS Profile, just to be aware of.

  No. 1, purpose. FAFSA is really used to determine eligibility for sources of federal financial aid, including grants, loans and work. As I said, as you're evaluating different schools, the FAFSA, for some, will be used to determine institutional financial aid. Here at Bucknell, that Profile helps us determine our eligibility for institutional aid, and that's our free grant-based dollars that we award as an institution. Again, access and policy and all those types of things are factored into the differences and why we require the form at first.

  When thinking about coverage, the FAFSA primarily focuses on federal and state financial aid. Whereas, the CSS Profile will offer us a more detailed view of a family's financial situation, which allows us to better have a handle on awarding our institutional funds more effectively across our student population. There's also the cost factor. Currently, the FAFSA is free to submit. Again, free application for federal student aid, so no charge for our families to submit that. I believe you can list up to 20 schools now based on the new FAFSA application. Whereas, the CSS Profile will have a fee for submission. However, if a family's income is currently at $100,000 or less, there is a fee waiver that they allow students to input on the application.

  Let's talk a little bit about the complexity. The FAFSA generally is shorter and simpler, because it's using what's called the FADDX transfer from the IRS. As a student goes into the FAFSA application, by creating that federal student aid ID from their parent and student that we've talked about in other podcasts, when they log into the FAFSA application, if they file the tax return by lieu of that Social Security number, all the information will already be populated on the application. Whereas, the CSS Profile, it's going to be a more comprehensive application. Families are going to need to have their documentation in hand, whether it's tax returns, asset information. The CSS Profile is going to ask more detailed information related to assets, income, additional expenses that the family may have.

  I think what's really nice about the application, it just gives us a broader view of the household in general. We know how many students live in the household. We know what ages they are, if they're in another college. They're able to tell us what financial aid they're receiving, or maybe what they're paying for those other institutions. You can also report information related to additional medical expenses that we may not be able to see just by looking at a tax form. We will learn more about your household in terms of, there's a free-form section on the application where our families are able to tell us anything additional that they want us to know related to their situation.

  I will tell you, here at Bucknell, we are reading those comments. We look at every application. It's not through AI that we're evaluating financial aid. We are going through and reviewing everything a family submits to us. Because if we do see that something is wildly changing the situation and financially — whether it's maybe an upcoming retirement, or somebody recently lost a job — we want to make sure we go back to the family and ask for additional documentation that will allow us to create a much more detailed and thorough financial aid offer that meets the family's situation where they are. If we're not reviewing those applications, we'd be missing out on an opportunity to present the family with the best financial aid information upfront.

  Last, I think about usage, FAFSA is going to be required for all students seeking federal financial aid where, again, the Profile is only required by specific colleges and universities. As I keep addressing, as you're looking at different institutions, please make sure you visit the financial aid pages on the school's website. It's going to be important to give you step-by-step instructions on what is crucial in terms of the application process to be eligible for institutional financial aid. As I said, you don't want to leave those dollars on the table. While the Profile may take your family a few more minutes to complete, the amount of dollars that you could receive institutionally due to their awarding structure is worth the effort.

  [0:15:30] BT: Yeah. It sounds like, the CSS allows you to drill even deeper to create a more fleshed-out vision of a student and family's financial situation when pairing it with the FAFSA. Knowing that the FAFSA takes into account things like, maybe changing income within a family, or even available funds at the federal level, I'm curious, does a CSS Profile also need to be submitted each year based on some of those changing factors?

  [0:15:57] EW: Well, it depends. It's really important to check with your student's financial aid office to determine the renewal requirements for financial aid. Here at Bucknell, we only require the CSS Profile currently for the students coming into the institution. Then we have a process by using the FAFSA and seeking some other clarification information that we'd be seeking through some additional forms that we send to our families, we can gather what we need to determine institutional dollars. However, for some universities, the CSS Profile generally needs to be submitted each year that the student is enrolled at the college if they are seeking financial aid. Again, that annual submission to that school will help reassess the family's financial situation and determine aid through the institutional program that they're offering.

  Again, I can't stress enough, make sure families are going back and looking at the annual renewal requirements for each institution. Families will need to provide those updated pieces of information, including income and asset changes. That is also going to be reflected on the FAFSA. However, for institutional reasons, schools may have policies where they want to collect that application. Again, if they’re a school that meets 100% of demonstrated financial need, they may be using that tool to really make sure they've evaluated all forms of financial aid eligibility for that family.

  Also, just deadlines, again, are so important. So that you're not leaving those dollars on the table, families really want to make sure they're going back and viewing those deadlines for the institution.

  [0:17:33] BT: What are some tips for students and families to keep track of these deadlines and when they need to either submit or resubmit some of these forms and this information? Do colleges and universities send out reminders to help prompt students and families each year?

  [0:17:47] EW: Sure. That's a great question. Speaking from Bucknell, yes, we absolutely do. If you're getting an email from me or my office, it's a call to action. Typically, as the application cycle is opening up, we will send gentle reminders out to our families regarding the process. We have specific communications that go generally to our parents that outline the requirements, the timelines, the deadlines, but then specifically, our students will get notifications that we have crafted that might more specifically align with individual items that their family needs to complete with us for certain reasons. For example, if a student has a sibling in college, and we've known that year over year that we expect they will have a sibling in school, we have an enrollment form that we will ask the family to submit. Everyone's financial aid application might look a little different based on the things that we've seen within the household that we need to just double-check.

  We normally communicate with our students and families every other week. As our families are being reminded of how important the application process is, those notifications go out, we store that information. Again, as our families are submitting those applications, then they'll stop receiving those notifications.

  Our students — and I know many other schools will have this within their financial aid software — they have an area that they can go in and log in for the student side of financial aid, where they can see what application items are required. They can see what financial aid they've had in the past. We do a lot through our own portals to make sure that information is readily available to our families. Absolutely, we do email campaigns, we can text, we can do all sorts of things to make sure that information is pushed out.

  [0:19:31] BHA: We know that Bucknell is a school that uses both the FAFSA and the CSS Profile. Can you help us understand why some schools might only require one financial aid form when other schools require more than one?

  [0:19:44] EW: Sure, Becca. I'm happy to answer that. The first thing I always want to say when I tell families — if they come to an Open House, or I'm talking to a family on the phone — I always address our application process. Sometimes families are like, “Oh, no. The Profile, I've heard about that.” Well, it's not meant to create a barrier at all for our students to access financial aid. This is an opportunity for us to really understand the family and to meet as much of the demonstrated financial need as possible. I look at our using the CSS Profile from that lens.

  Some institutions may have decided to not use the CSS Profile for reasons such as, perhaps, it is related to not having institutional funding in those same levels that we have here at our institution. They may be more of a merit-heavy school, so that they're really maybe awarding merit 100% across their student application, applicant pool. Therefore, access to institutional need-based aid might not be at the same level, and they're only able to then offer federal, or state on top of those merit dollars. It's really going to go back to policy and school's philosophy on how they use the applications.

  Again, I think by and large, as we look as an institution that has generous financial aid, institutional awarding structure, and we're working hard at making that better year over year for our families, it's really important that we have the CSS Profile. Again, when I think about equity in our awarding process, that allows me to make sure I'm looking at everyone in the same lens.

  [0:21:22] BT: Now that we've covered some of the nuances and differences between the FAFSA and the CSS, as well as maybe different schools approaches or philosophies around these two forms, let's zoom in a bit on the process for filling out and submitting these forms for financial aid. I know there's a lot of information that students and families need to provide. For an in-depth breakdown of what's required, we recommend listening to Episode 53 of our podcast, where Erin and another colleague from Bucknell's Office of Financial Aid outline how to apply for financial aid. For those who may be hearing about all of this for the first time, what are your top-level tips for filling out the FAFSA in particular?

  [0:22:03] EW: Sure. No. 1, the FAFSA simplification changes that went into effect for the 2024-25 academic year really changed what families need to have present to complete the FAFSA. Because of the changes that the data, as I referenced earlier, are using the FADDX process, it's all pulling from the IRS if the family had filed a federal tax return. Sometimes you used to have documentation on hand through tax returns, your W-2s, asset information. That asset information is still important. Again, now that information is going to automatically be transferred, I think it's a good practice to have it handy in case you need to go back and maybe, for some reason, some data didn't transfer and the family has asked for some additional information on the FAFSA, to have that handy.

  The FAFSA Federal Student Aid ID is really important part of the process and that's something families can start in advance of the application opening. Traditionally, the FAFSA opens every Oct. 1. For the 2025-26 academic year, we're looking at that coming out on Dec. 1. That doesn't mean a family should hesitate on starting that FSA ID process. Both a parent and the student will need to have that handy if a parent is living in the same household but divorced from another parent, and not filing those taxes together for obvious reasons. Just know that there might be reasons where another parent, based on how taxes are filed, or who's in the household may also need to have an additional FSA ID to sign off on the Federal Student Aid form this year.

  If it does open on December 1, I encourage families to start the process as soon as they're able. I know there were issues in some information that wasn't flowing great last year, but with the delay this year, we're expecting the functionality to return with the additional testing that's being done on the FAFSA application. From what we're hearing and what we're aware of, we expect that this process, hopefully, will be much smoother for our students and families.

  Make sure you're thorough and accurate, so make sure you didn't double count any asset information on the forms. Just make sure everything as you would expect to report as, again, it's a federal application. You don't want to not be honest and truthful on that application.

  Make sure you're listing the schools that you are applying to, so you can list up to 20 schools and then a family can go back in and what they call is make a correction and add additional schools if possible. That's important as, if you're throwing a wide net out there, that you're not missing out on getting that FAFSA to a school as early as you can.

  Just be, again, watch deadlines. Make sure you're not missing any deadlines at the school side, or if your state specifically has a deadline that the application needs to be required, just make sure you're aware of that.

  I think the last tip is just stay informed, but also check your communications from the institutions your student’s applying to. When families submit the application, there's sometimes things that happen that we may question some of the information that's coming through on the application. We may follow up in an email, or some communication that's asking for additional documentation to confirm eligibility for the financial aid. Just pay attention to what's coming in, open those emails. I know you might get hundreds of emails from institutions, but sometimes they're a call to action that requires you to do something. So we need you to do something. If you don't, that is when you could potentially be missing out on some financial aid.

  [0:25:46] BHA: Thanks, Erin, for those great reminders, especially about checking emails. So many important steps to the application process are communicated via email, so a reminder for students and families to be mindful of those communications is always appreciated. Do you have any similar advice for the CSS Profile?

  [0:26:06] EW: I would say, that some of the same tips I gave for the FAFSA also will be something to consider for the Profile. No. 1, are you applying to an institution that requires the Profile? That's the most important part of the step, to make sure you're not forgetting to list the school on that Profile application.

  For the CSS Profile, you will need to hand-key in all of your pertinent financial information. You will want to have your tax returns in hand, your W2s, your bank statements, any records of untaxed income, or perhaps, child support, or other things that would be pertinent to your family situation. What's nice about both the FAFSA and the CSS Profile, it will tell you where you can pull these data points from a tax return, so it's not meant to be confusing. It's going to flow in a way that it's going to tell you, "Look at line three for this," or, "Look at line 28." And it's going to be very specific, so that you're reporting the correct information from the start.

  Not dissimilar from the FAFSA, but something that is a little different is that you will need a College Board account. You must go to the college board website and create an account that will allow you to file the CSS Profile. The one thing that's, I think, important for schools that use the Profile, they may also be using a service called IDOC. IDOC is a call to action within the College Board itself. For example, here at Bucknell, we require the CSS Profile and we require the FAFSA, but we also do a full audit of our students' financial aid eligibility, which means we request copies of parents and students' federal income tax returns and W2s. The College Board account will, as soon as you submit that Profile, if a school is using the IDOC process, it's going to trigger you for some additional emails that are going to be sent requiring you to upload tax information to the College Board. The College Board is actually collecting that for us and that's sending that then to any school that is using the Profile that your student applied to.

  It's a really nice service, where you as the family are removed from having to individually go to each school and provide that information, where it's collected in one area and then it's handed out to institutions that are on your student's financial aid application that are using that CSS Profile.

  The one thing that you should know, the college board has some really great videos to walk you through different parts of the application. Again, if you're a little unsure about how to go about completing the Profile, No. 1, I would encourage families to watch those short videos. They're at most, probably two to three minutes in length, but I think they're really helpful in helping navigate preemptively like, what do I need to have on hand? What questions could I expect? They even have a preview tool, so you'll know what questions that you could be receiving before you start the application.

  The most important part is, as a tip, looking at the asset section. There's going to be questions related to your personal savings, your checking accounts, and that's, again, same thing on the FAFSA. But there could be some additional questions that you may be asked regarding your home, what your equity is on that home, and you need to be aware that not all schools will use that information in the same form. Just be prepared that it's going to be a question on the application. But if you want to know specifically how a school is using that information, don't be afraid to reach out to the financial aid office. Ask the questions if you are curious and want to know how some of the information that you are inputting in the application will impact eligibility for financial aid.

  Again, most importantly, follow up. Make sure you're checking your emails. Make sure you're looking for communications because, again, we could be circling back to your family to look for additional information that will help us put together the best financial aid award.

  [0:30:05] BT: We've covered so much ground on this episode and we've been so privileged to have you, Erin, as the Director of Financial Aid here at Bucknell, not once, but several times here to share this really important information with students and families. We definitely don't want to leave this episode without mentioning the deadlines for each of these financial aid forms. That can vary depending on when a student applies to college, at least here at Bucknell. Erin, can you quickly walk us through those dates?

  [0:30:31] EW: Sure. Again, I have to certainly remind everyone that the FAFSA is slightly delayed. We know that. For Early Decision I applicants, we must have the College Board Profile submitted to us by Nov. 15. For anyone in our ED pool, we will be able to estimate federal financial aid and even the Pell Grant, if the student is eligible by using that profile. We expect to provide an award to our students by, certainly, our December release dates to our families. Then, as soon as that FAFSA is available, we encourage our ED I applicants to submit that information, so we can just go back and make sure that if there's any adjustments. We do those as quickly as possible to, again, provide an updated financial aid award notification to the student.

  Anyone who's going Early Decision II and Regular Decision, Jan. 15 will be our deadline for all these applications. Certainly, if there's for any reason that we expect there's additional issues with the FAFSA, we will certainly put out any additional communications regarding a potential that FAFSA would maybe be moved back. Again, for all intents and purposes, we expect things to be Dec. 1 opening. Again, FAFSA and profile by Jan. 15 for ED II and Regular Decision.

  [0:31:56] BHA: The great news about having resources like Erin on our podcast is that there's an entire team of people at colleges and universities that are here to support you through the process. Please, don't hesitate to reach out if we can help you and your family navigate the application process — either on the admission side, or on the financial aid side.

  [0:32:16] EW: We're happy to help any family. We have Zoomed and helped families complete FAFSAs, College Board Profiles. Anything we can do in person, on Zoom, on a phone, we are happy to help. Don't hesitate to reach out. Again, I have a team who's dedicated to making sure our families understand this process, even though school by school can be very different, but we're here to help navigate this process. Always happy to take a phone call and answer any questions that you may have.

  [0:32:46] BT: Well, thanks so much for joining us, Erin.

  [0:32:48] EW: Thanks for having me.

  [0:32:49] BT: Thanks to everyone out there for listening. If you're a fan of the podcast, please take a moment to rate, subscribe, and share this episode with the students and families in your life.

  [0:32:58] BHA: We'll be back with another new episode in a few weeks. In the meantime, send your questions, comments, and episode ideas to podcast@bucknell.edu. We read every note you send.
  [0:33:08] BT: Finally, you're invited to follow Bucknell on your favorite social media apps. Just look for @BucknellU on Instagram, Facebook, X, YouTube and TikTok. You can also follow our student-run Instagram account, which is @iamraybucknell.

  [0:33:25] BHA: Until next time, keep reaching for your dreams and your dream school.

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