Ever wonder what goes into the additional information section on the Common App—or if you even have to fill it out? How about what to include in the honors section? We have advice on maximizing these and other areas of the application, including the activities lists and the new COVID question. We’re also sharing what you need to know about the CSS Profile as you prepare to complete this financial document for the colleges that require it. Finally, we’ll walk you through the supplemental essays for Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia.

In another in our series of stories from our team, Sai Somboon will share his decision to apply to and attend college in the United States despite growing up in Thailand. We’re also offering tips for the Georgetown application essays and previewing the FAFSA and CSS Profiles so that you can pull together the information you’ll need to complete these when they become available this fall.

There are many, many myths floating around out there about college admissions, and in this new regular segment, we’re going to try to replace the myth with some facts. Last week we shared everything you need to know about completing the FAFSA, and this week we’re tackling the CSS Profile, which is required by about 400 colleges and universities. Finally, we’ll let you in on the who, what, where, when, and how of submitting standardized test scores.

In the latest episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation, host Beth Heaton talks with her guests about considerations when selecting a major in the college application process, how to complete the CSS Profile®, and how to send standardized test scores to colleges and universities. In other words, this episode is chock full of highly relevant information for high school seniors and their parents, as well as 11^th grade parents and students who are planning ahead!

‘Tis the financial aid application season, so guest host Sally Ganga kicked off last week’s episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation with some tips on completing the CSS Profile form.  She also talked with her guests about how to choose a college major and offered advice to students answering the Lehigh University supplemental essay prompts.

The CSS Profile Non-Custodial Parent Waiver Process

If you are a regular reader of the College Coach blog, you know that students are not required to include information about their non-custodial parent (NCP) on the FAFSA (the Free Application for Federal Student Aid). There are institutions, however, that do collect this information. Approximately 400 colleges and universities require students to complete a second application called the College Scholarship Service (CSS) Profile, and most of these require students to have their NCP submit income and asset information as part of the student’s aid application.

Financial aid officers understand that getting this information may be difficult or impossible for some students. Since failure to complete the non-custodial parent’s part of an aid application may result in the student losing institutional financial aid dollars, colleges have a process by which the student can request that the requirement to include NCP information be waived.

Last week on Getting In: A College Coach Conversation, guest host Sally Ganga devoted the first segment of the show to the School’s In: Application Workshop, where she and her guest addressed whether and when students should disclose autism spectrum disorders and learning disabilities on the college application. She spent the last two thirds of the show diving deeply into the intricacies of what can be a very important (and complex) financial aid application at some schools, the CSS/PROFILE.

So you just clicked the “submit” button on your child’s FAFSA, and maybe you’re thinking, “Phew!  Glad to be done applying for financial aid!”  Well, take a deep breath, Moms and Dads, because you may not be done with financial aid applications yet.  Many schools (about 300 of the close to 4,000 colleges in the US, almost all of them private) require an additional financial aid application called the CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE.  Why the extra form?  The PROFILE allows colleges to collect more information than the FAFSA so that they can conduct a rigorous analysis some colleges believe provides a more realistic measure of a family’s ability to pay.  There are many differences between the FAFSA and the PROFILE, below are some of the most important ones for students and their families.

FAFSA Financial Aid Application vs. PROFILE Financial Aid Application 

Applying for financial aid when parents are divorced, unmarried, or remarried can get complicated. In this installment of the College Coach video series, We Can Explain, former financial aid officer Shannon Vasconcelos provides a basic understanding of how income and assets are considered in the FAFSA and CSS Profile.

Guest post excerpted from an upcoming book by Sabrina Manville and Nick Ducoff of Edmit

If you’re a high school senior or the parent of a senior, fall is prime time for college applications! You probably have a running list of colleges and perhaps even a spreadsheet that’s tracking your research and keeping tabs on the colleges you like.

At some point soon, you’ll need to stop adding new colleges and start removing the ones you won’t be applying to. So how do you make sure you keep finances in mind when you do that narrowing?