Paying for college · 2027–2028
The CSS Profile, explained.
The FAFSA decides federal aid. The CSS Profile decides a college’s own grant money at the 154 undergraduate colleges that use it, from Harvard to Georgia Tech.
By Lokesh Pampatti, founder of Clarity Prep · Updated October 18, 2026
What it is
The CSS Profile is an online financial aid form run by College Board, the company behind the SAT. Colleges with a lot of their own aid money use it to decide how much to give you. You fill it out once and send it to every college on your list that asks for it.
It goes deeper than the FAFSA. Depending on the college, it can ask about home equity, a family business or farm, and the finances of a parent you don’t live with. That extra detail is why colleges that use it can give larger, more precise grants.
CSS Profile vs. FAFSA
| FAFSA | CSS Profile | |
|---|---|---|
| Run by | U.S. Department of Education | College Board |
| Decides | Federal aid (Pell Grants, federal loans, work-study), most state aid | The college’s own grants and scholarships |
| Who needs it | Everyone applying for aid | Only students applying to colleges that use it |
| Cost | Free | $25, then $16 per college; free for families earning up to $100,000 |
| Detail | Pulls tax data from the IRS | More questions: home equity, business, noncustodial parent |
At a CSS Profile college you usually file both. Start with the FAFSA (the 2027–28 form is open now), then do the Profile while the numbers are fresh.
Fees and fee waivers
The Profile costs $25 for the first college and $16 for each one after that. It’s free for U.S. undergraduate applicants whose family’s adjusted gross income is up to $100,000, who qualified for an SAT fee waiver, or who are orphans or wards of the court under 24. The waiver is applied automatically when your answers qualify.
How to fill it out
- Make a College Board account (the same one you use for the SAT) and start the Profile for Fall 2027.
- Have last year’s tax returns, W-2s, bank statements and investment balances ready. Do the FAFSA first if you can.
- Add every college on your list that uses it. You can add more later.
- If your parents are divorced or separated, check whether each college wants a noncustodial parent Profile.
- Submit by each college’s financial aid deadline, which for early applicants is often in November.
In Georgia, Emory and Georgia Tech use the CSS Profile. Public colleges rarely do; most rely on the FAFSA alone.
There are 124 colleges on the list that may ask for a noncustodial parent’s Profile. Fees and waivers from College Board’s CSS Profile site.
Every college that uses it
| College | State | Admitted | Noncustodial parent |
|---|---|---|---|
| American University | DC | 66% | May be asked |
| American University of Rome | Outside the U.S. | – | May be asked |
| Amherst | MA | 7.7% | May be asked |
| ASU | AZ | 88% | May be asked |
| Babson College | MA | 16% | May be asked |
| Bard College | NY | 52% | May be asked |
| Bard College at Simon's Rock | NY | 97% | May be asked |
| Barnard College | NY | 10% | May be asked |
| Bates College | ME | 15% | May be asked |
| Bennington College | VT | 37% | May be asked |
| Bentley University | MA | 47% | May be asked |
| Berklee College of Music | MA | 55% | May be asked |
| Boston College | MA | 16% | May be asked |
| Boston University | MA | 13% | May be asked |
| Bowdoin | ME | 6.8% | May be asked |
| Boyce College | KY | – | No |
| Brandeis | MA | 45% | May be asked |
| Brown | RI | 6.3% | May be asked |
| Bryn Mawr College | PA | 28% | May be asked |
| Bucknell University | PA | 32% | May be asked |
| Caltech | CA | 3.8% | May be asked |
| Carleton College | MN | 22% | May be asked |
| Carnegie Mellon | PA | 11% | May be asked |
| Case Western | OH | 35% | May be asked |
| Centre College | KY | 48% | No |
| Chapman University | Outside the U.S. | 72% | May be asked |
| Christendom College | VA | – | May be asked |
| Claremont McKenna College | CA | 9.4% | May be asked |
| Cleveland Institute of Music | OH | 38% | No |
| Colby College | ME | 6.8% | May be asked |
| Colgate University | NY | 14% | May be asked |
| College of the Holy Cross | MA | 21% | May be asked |
| Colorado College | CO | 22% | May be asked |
| Columbia | NY | 4.9% | May be asked |
| Columbia University School of General Studies | NY | – | May be asked |
| Connecticut College | CT | 39% | May be asked |
| Cornell | NY | 8.4% | May be asked |
| Curtis Institute of Music | PA | 7.0% | May be asked |
| Dartmouth | NH | 6.0% | May be asked |
| Davidson | NC | 13% | May be asked |
| Denison University | OH | 20% | May be asked |
| Dickinson College | PA | 42% | May be asked |
| Drexel University | PA | 70% | No |
| Duke | NC | 5.2% | May be asked |
| Duke Kunshan University | Outside the U.S. | – | May be asked |
| Duquesne University | PA | 86% | May be asked |
| Eastman School of Music (University of Rochester) | NY | – | May be asked |
| Emory | GA | 10% | May be asked |
| Fairfield University | CT | 25% | May be asked |
| Fordham University | NY | 59% | May be asked |
| Franklin and Marshall College | PA | 32% | May be asked |
| George Washington University | DC | 47% | May be asked |
| Georgetown | DC | 14% | May be asked |
| Georgetown University in Qatar | Outside the U.S. | – | May be asked |
| Georgia Tech | GA | 13% | No |
| Gettysburg College | PA | 39% | No |
| Great Basin College | NV | – | No |
| Grinnell College | IA | 15% | May be asked |
| Grove City College | PA | 73% | No |
| Hamilton College | NY | 14% | May be asked |
| Harvard | MA | 4.2% | May be asked |
| Harvey Mudd College | CA | 12% | May be asked |
| Haverford College | PA | 13% | May be asked |
| Hillsdale College | MI | 21% | May be asked |
| Hobart William Smith Colleges | NY | 67% | May be asked |
| Hubbard College of Administration of Tampa Bay | FL | – | No |
| Illinois Wesleyan University | IL | 53% | No |
| Jewish Theological Seminary of America | NY | 45% | May be asked |
| Johns Hopkins | MD | 6.1% | May be asked |
| Kenyon College | OH | 30% | May be asked |
| Lafayette College | PA | 31% | May be asked |
| Lake Forest College | IL | 54% | May be asked |
| Lehigh | PA | 29% | May be asked |
| Loyola University Maryland | MD | 70% | No |
| Luther Classical College | WY | – | No |
| Macalester College | MN | 28% | May be asked |
| Manhattan School of Music | NY | 40% | May be asked |
| McGill University | QC | – | May be asked |
| Middlebury | VT | 13% | May be asked |
| Minerva University | CA | 3.6% | May be asked |
| MIT | MA | 4.6% | May be asked |
| Mount Holyoke College | MA | 38% | May be asked |
| Muhlenberg College | PA | 64% | No |
| Nevada State University | NV | 86% | No |
| New Saint Andrews College | ID | 86% | No |
| NewU University | DC | 99% | May be asked |
| Northeastern | MA | 5.2% | May be asked |
| Northern Arizona University | AZ | 90% | May be asked |
| Northwestern | IL | 7.5% | May be asked |
| Notre Dame | IN | 9.4% | May be asked |
| NYU | NY | 9.1% | May be asked |
| Oberlin College | OH | 33% | May be asked |
| Occidental College | CA | 45% | May be asked |
| Patrick Henry College | VA | 82% | May be asked |
| Peabody Conservatory (Johns Hopkins) | MD | – | May be asked |
| Penn | PA | 4.9% | May be asked |
| Pitzer College | CA | 27% | May be asked |
| Pomona | CA | 7.1% | May be asked |
| Providence College | RI | 49% | No |
| Reach University | CA | 99% | May be asked |
| Reed College | OR | 29% | May be asked |
| Rhodes College | TN | 52% | No |
| Rice | TX | 8.0% | May be asked |
| RPI | NY | 67% | No |
| Sacred Heart University | CT | 68% | May be asked |
| Samford University | AL | 79% | May be asked |
| San Francisco Conservatory of Music | CA | 52% | May be asked |
| Santa Clara University | CA | 48% | May be asked |
| Scripps College | CA | 40% | May be asked |
| Skidmore College | NY | 24% | May be asked |
| Smith College | MA | 22% | May be asked |
| SMU | TX | 48% | May be asked |
| St Olaf College | MN | 43% | May be asked |
| St. John's College | MD | 44% | May be asked |
| St. John's College | NM | 50% | May be asked |
| Stanford | CA | 3.8% | May be asked |
| Stevens Institute of Technology | NJ | 51% | No |
| Swarthmore | PA | 7.5% | May be asked |
| Syracuse | NY | 49% | May be asked |
| Texas Christian University | TX | 48% | May be asked |
| The College of Wooster | OH | 64% | No |
| The Juilliard School | NY | 9.0% | No |
| The University of the South | TN | 56% | No |
| Trinity College | CT | 30% | May be asked |
| Trinity University | TX | 25% | No |
| Trinity Washington University | DC | 99% | No |
| Tufts | MA | 11% | May be asked |
| Tulane | LA | 15% | May be asked |
| UNC | NC | 17% | No |
| Union College | NY | 43% | May be asked |
| University of Denver | CO | 85% | May be asked |
| University of Miami | FL | 18% | May be asked |
| University of Michigan | MI | 16% | May be asked |
| University of Richmond | VA | 22% | May be asked |
| University of Rochester | NY | 42% | May be asked |
| University of Scranton | PA | 80% | No |
| USC | CA | 11% | May be asked |
| UVA | VA | 17% | May be asked |
| Vanderbilt | TN | 5.4% | No |
| Vassar College | NY | 21% | May be asked |
| Villanova | PA | 28% | May be asked |
| Wake Forest | NC | 21% | May be asked |
| Walla Walla University | WA | – | No |
| Washington and Lee University | VA | 14% | May be asked |
| WashU | MO | 12% | May be asked |
| Wellesley | MA | 15% | May be asked |
| Wesleyan University | CT | 16% | May be asked |
| Whitman College | WA | 40% | May be asked |
| William & Mary | VA | 37% | No |
| William Jewell College | MO | 34% | No |
| Williams | MA | 8.6% | May be asked |
| Worcester Polytechnic Institute | MA | 62% | May be asked |
| Wyoming Catholic College | WY | – | May be asked |
| Yale | CT | 4.7% | May be asked |
Undergraduate colleges that use the CSS Profile for some or all U.S. applicants in 2027–28, from College Board’s participating list (checked October 18, 2026). Graduate schools and private scholarship programs on that list are left out. “Noncustodial parent” means the college may ask a parent you don’t live with to fill out their own Profile.
Questions
What is the CSS Profile?
The CSS Profile is a College Board financial aid form that about 150 colleges use to give out their own grant money. It asks for more detail than the FAFSA. Colleges that use it usually want the FAFSA too.
What’s the difference between the CSS Profile and the FAFSA?
The FAFSA is free and decides federal aid like Pell Grants and federal loans, plus most state aid. The CSS Profile decides a college’s own aid at the colleges that use it, asks more questions, and costs $25 for the first college and $16 for each one after, unless you get a fee waiver.
Which schools require the CSS Profile?
154 undergraduate colleges use it for 2027–28, including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, Duke, Northwestern, Michigan, UVA, UNC Chapel Hill and Georgia Tech. The full list is on this page.
Is the CSS Profile free?
It’s free if your family’s adjusted gross income is up to $100,000, if you qualified for an SAT fee waiver, or if you’re an orphan or ward of the court under 24. Otherwise it costs $25 for the first college and $16 for each additional one.
How long does the CSS Profile take?
Most families need a couple of hours with their tax returns, bank statements and pay stubs in front of them. It goes faster if you finish the FAFSA first, because many of the numbers are the same.
When is the CSS Profile due?
Each college sets its own date, and it’s often close to the application deadline: early in November for early decision and early action, and January to February for regular decision. Check each college’s financial aid page.
Want someone to keep your list on track?
A Clarity Prep mentor builds your college list with you, puts every deadline on one calendar, reads your essays and checks in every week until you hit submit. Not sure where you stand? Try the free chances calculator.