What You Need to Complete Your Financial Aid Applications

Need to submit financial aid applications this year? Don't feel intimidated. Though you'll need to answer several questions about your finances, the forms provide clear guidance on where to find those numbers, and you'll be able to get yourself through the process fairly quickly. You will, however, have to be prepared with some documents. We've listed the forms and information that you'll need below. The FAFSA^® and the CSS Profile^®, your main applications for financial aid, typically become available on October ^1st, so make sure you're ready by around that time to start the process. Note that the FAFSA will not be available until approximately December 1, 2024 for families completing the 2025-26 application.

The FAFSA

Every student interested in financial aid will need to submit the FAFSA, which can be completed at fafsa.gov. Here's what you'll need to fill out the form:

• An FSA ID (basically a username and password) for the student and one parent (or both parents if parents are married but filed taxes separately). You can get one at studentaid.gov/fsa-id.
• A list of colleges where the student is applying
• The following information/documents for the student and the parent(s). You'll need information for both parents if the parents are married or live together; you'll only need it for one parent (the parent who provides the most financial support) for divorced or separated parents.
  
  • Social Security number
  • Current bank statements
  • Current business and investment statements (not including retirement)
  • Current real estate value and debt (not including the primary home)
• The FAFSA will also collect student and parent income by pulling in U.S. tax return information from the IRS. That means, for most people, you won't need to reference your tax returns to answer any income questions. 

The CSS Profile

Roughly 200 colleges, universities, and scholarship agencies use the CSS Profile, and you can find out which ones require it by checking each college's financial aid webpage. You'll need to submit the CSS Profile to these schools in addition to submitting the FAFSA. You can complete the Profile at cssprofile.org.

To complete the CSS Profile, you'll need the same documents that we listed above for the FAFSA, with the following differences:

• The CSS Profile doesn't use the FSA ID. Instead, the parent can create his or her own College Board^® username and password, or you can use the student's College Board username and password (which was likely set up when the student took the SAT^®).
• The CSS Profile doesn't pull in your tax data from the IRS, so you'll definitely need your federal income tax returns and W-2s (for the parent(s) and the student, if the student filed taxes) for several questions. Don't worry, the form will direct you to the appropriate lines and boxes to grab the numbers you need.
• You'll need to report information (purchase year, purchase price, current value, and current debt) about all of your real estate, including your primary home.
• The CSS Profile will also ask for:
  
  • The value of your retirement accounts
  • Any untaxed income
  • Significant paid medical expense
  • The amount you paid in private K-12 school tuition
  • Any current education loan payments
  • Finally, the CSS Profile will ask for information about all parents. If the student's parents are divorced or separated, the parent with whom the student lives the most will complete the CSS Profile. But many schools also require the other parent to submit his or her own CSS Profile, with all the same information. This is a major difference from the FAFSA, and something significant to note.

As you complete your financial aid applications, contact us with any questions. You can find us at collegeplanning@mefa.org and (800) 449-MEFA (6332). And for a complete overview of the financial aid applications, watch our webinars, Understanding the FAFSA and the CSS Profile.

Learn more about financial aid applications