www.collegeboard.com profileonline.collegeboard.com What is the CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE? PROFILE is a program of the College Board - a national nonprofit association of schools and school systems, colleges and universities, and educational organizations. Many colleges, universities, graduate and professional schools, and scholarship programs use the information collected on PROFILE to help them award nonfederal student aid funds. The College Board does not award scholarship money or other financial aid. The PROFILE Application is customized for you based on the information you give when you register for the service. By completing PROFILE, you are able to give a complete picture of your family's financial circumstances. PROFILE also allows you to include explanations about special circumstances on the same application. Click here for the PROFILE-Online Glossary. PROFILE Online is secure, convenient, and fast. - Online help is available.
- You can print customized pre-application materials to help you complete the application.
- Automated online editing increases your ability to provide complete and accurate information, resulting in faster processing of your application.
- Applicants completing the PROFILE after January 1 are provided and online worksheet to help them complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
- Applicants get timely information about options to help their families finance college.
3 Easy Steps: 1. Register for your customized PROFILE Application at www.collegeboard.com. - Click on CSS/PROFILE under "Pay for College" on the student's home page. Connect any day at any time.
- Click on 2007-2008 PROFILE.
- Enter your username and password. If you do not have a collegeboard.com username and password, click on "Sign Up" and provide the required information. Be sure to save your username and password so that you can return to your PROFILE application.
- Click on "Register for PROFILE." Complete the registration questions and select the colleges and programs to receive your PROFILE report. Your application is not saved until you complete these steps.
- If any of your colleges or programs require your parents to complete the Business/Farm Supplement, you will be instructed to download the form and print it.
- If your biological or adoptive parents are divorced, separated, or are no longer living in the same household, one or more of your colleges or programs may require you submit the Noncustodial PROFILE Application. If this is the case, the College Board will e-mail you instructions for completion of the online application to forward to your noncustodial parent. Neither you nor your custodial parent will be able to access your noncustodial parent's information since it is password protected.
- Register at least two weeks before the earliest priority filing date specified by your colleges and programs. Go to PROFILE Online home page and click on "Participating Institutions" to check the priority filing date for each of your schools.
2. Complete your PROFILE Application: - After registering, print the customized Pre-Application Worksheet to learn what additional information will be required by the colleges and programs you selected during the registration step. You may also wish to print the instructions.
- You can begin the online application immediately after you register, or you can come back later. You do not need to complete the entire application at one time. You can save the information and return to it later.
3. Submit your PROFILE Application: - Submit your PROFILE Application to the College Board at least a week before the earliest priority filing date specified by your colleges and programs. The College Board will record the date and time you submit your application based on Eastern Time. It can take up to one week from the time you submit your application for your information to be delivered to your selected colleges and programs.
- After you complete your PROFILE, you will receive an online PROFILE Acknowledgement. Your Acknowledgement provides a record of the information you entered on your application. The Acknowledgement also contains crucial information about important next steps required to complete the financial aid application process. You should read the Acknowledgement carefully and print a copy for your records. You can always return to the PROFILE Web site to print another copy of the Acknowledgement if needed.
- Once you submit your PROFILE, you cannot revise your information online. Any changes must be sent directly to your colleges or programs.
Frequently Asked Questions PROFILE collects personal financial information. How can I be assured that my information will remain confidential? The College Board considers confidentiality one of its highest priorities and uses every possible measure to protect your information. Your information is sent only to the schools and programs that you authorize. Your information is stored in a secure environment with firewall protection and is not shared with anyone else. All of the information that passes between the College Board and your computer, including your credit card, debit card, or check number, is data encrypted. Encryption technology ensures that data remain secure while being transmitted along the Internet by encoding the information. PROFILE Online is a "VeriSign Secure Site." You can click on the VeriSign graphic on the home page to verify. Why aren't the PROFILE questions numbered for reference purposes? Because each applicant is presented only with questions that pertain to his/her financial circumstances, the number of questions on each student's application will vary. As a result, the PROFILE questions are not numbered. However, each PROFILE section is uniquely identified, and each question contains a "help code" so that you can refer to the code when contacting the PROFILE support center or speaking with a financial aid administrator at your selected colleges. Can I change my answer to a registration question once I have begun the PROFILE Application? Yes. You can change any answer to any question before you submit the application. In fact, if your answers to application questions conflict with your answers to registration questions, the system will direct you to review your answers. How much does the PROFILE Application cost?
All students are charged a nonrefundable $5.00 registration fee. This covers the cost of customizing your PROFILE Application. You will be charged $18.00 for each school or program to which you want information sent. This covers the cost of processing and reporting your information. A limited number of fee waivers are granted to first-time college applications from families with very low incomes and few assets. The fee waiver covers the cost of PROFILE registration and reporting to up to three colleges or programs. Fee waivers are awarded automatically online based on family financial information. You don't need to apply for a fee waiver. How do I pay for my application? You have several payment options: - credit card (MasterCard, VISA, American Express, Discover)
- debit card (MasterCard or VISA), or
- online check.
My parents don't have a computer at home. How can I complete the online application? If your parents don't have access to a computer, we suggest that you register for PROFILE using a computer in your high school or local library. At the end of the registration step, you should print the Pre-Application Worksheet, Supplemental Information Worksheet, and Instructions (in English or Spanish), and take them home. Your parents can complete the worksheets, and you can enter the information when you return to your high school or local library. What is the NonCustodial PROFILE and why must my parent complete it? Many colleges believe that it is the responsibility of both of your biological or adoptive parents to pay for your college expenses, to the extent they are able, even though they are no longer living in the same household. To make a fair assessment of your eligibility for institutional student aid funds, colleges evaluate your custodial parent's financial circumstances from information on the PROFILE and your noncustodial parent's financial circumstances from information on the Noncustodial PROFILE. Exceptions to this requirement can be made only by the college(s) requiring the Noncustodial PROFILE Application, not by the College Board. If I change my mind about applying to a particular college after registering, can I delete that code number from my record?
You can delete a college from your registration record or change your college choices at any time up until the point when you submit your completed application to the College Board. After submission you may only add colleges or programs. How can I add a college after I've submitted my PROFILE Application?
You can add a college to your online PROFILE Application by going to the PROFILE Online Web site and clicking on "Add Colleges to Submitted Application." The charge is $18 for each additional college or program to which you want your information sent. If you listed fewer than six colleges or programs on your original application and you qualified for a fee waiver, your remaining fee-waiver eligibility will be applied when adding colleges. When you add colleges or programs, you may be asked to complete additional questions required by these institutions. How will I know when the College Board completes processing my PROFILE Application?
After you submit your PROFILE Application, you can access your PROFILE Acknowledgment on the College Board web site. The Acknowledgment is your record of submitting the PROFILE. It shows the colleges and programs to which we will send your information and reports the data you supplied in your application. The Acknowledgment may also contain message codes from your schools and programs advising you of the next steps in the process. If you need to change any of your application information, print your Acknowledgment, make corrections, and send them to your colleges or programs. What is IDOC? The Institutional Documentation Service (IDOC) is the College Board's data collection and verification service. Many colleges participate in the service to streamline the collection of tax returns from families. There is no charge to applicants for this service. If any colleges to which you are applying use IDOC, you will be asked to submit your family's tax returns (and other forms required for verification) to the College Board's processing center, rather than directly to the college(s). The College Board will notify you of the IDOC requirement either on your PROFILE Acknowledgement, through the mail, or via e-mail. Can I use PROFILE to apply for federal student aid?
No. For Federal assistance, you must complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). You can complete FAFSA on the Web (www.fafsa.ed.gov ). If you submit your PROFILE after January 1, we will provide you with an online worksheet to help you complete the FAFSA.
Additional questions? You can email the College Board at help@cssprofile.org . or you can call 305-829-9793. Service hours are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, but are subject to change. Extended service hours from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. are available from January through April. The following number has been designated a Telephone Device for the Deaf: (800)915-9990. | 
