What's the difference between a CSS Profile^® and the FAFSA^®?

Compare and contrast the two applications

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, better known as FAFSA^®, is the best way to get federal financial aid for school, but it’s not always the only application you should submit. Nearly 300 colleges, universities, and scholarships require the College Scholarship Service (CSS) Profile^{®footnote 1}. Let’s lay out the similarities and differences between the two.

What is the CSS Profile^®?

First things first, the CSS Profile^® is an application created by the College Board. Familiar with the SAT^® and Advanced Placement (AP^®) classes? The College Board is responsible for those. The CSS Profile^® is issued by private colleges and universities to figure out what kinds of non-federal grants, loans, and scholarships, you’re eligible for. The College Board has a list of all the schools and scholarship programs that require you to submit a CSS Profile^®.

Similarities between the FAFSA^® and the CSS Profile^®

The CSS Profile^® and the FAFSA^® have a few things in common:

1. Both are online applications. For the 2025-26 academic year, the CSS Profile^® opens October 1 and the FAFSA^® opens on or before December 1.
2. You have to list the schools you’re interested in applying to on both of them.
3. They both ask for you to share your financial information to determine your financial need.

How the CSS Profile^® and the FAFSA^® differ

The CSS Profile^® has three key differences that separates it from the FAFSA^®:

1. It’s not free. To file with one school, the CSS Profile^® costs $25. For any additional schools you apply to, you’ll have to pay $16 per school. The fees can be waived for undergraduate U.S. residents with family incomes up to $100k. You may also be able to have your fees waived if you’re an orphan or ward of the court under the age of 24, or if you previously qualified for SAT fee waivers. Once you complete your CSS Profile^® application, you’ll be able to find out if you’re eligible for a fee waiver.
2. You have to share more detailed financial info. The CSS Profile^® asks for more nitty-gritty details, like financial information from non-custodial parents, the net worth of small family businesses, home equity, non-qualified annuities, and medical expenses, among other things. Student income and assets are also weighted higher on the CSS Profile^® than on FAFSA^®. This way, financial aid counselors at schools that use the CSS Profile^® have more freedom to give students aid based on specific circumstances.
3. It has its own way of determining your aid. The CSS Profile^® takes the information you provide and inputs it into a formula called Institutional Methodology to determine your financial need and your estimated ability to contribute to the cost of tuition. On the other hand, the FAFSA^® uses the Federal Methodology formula to calculate student need.

Before you start the FAFSA^® or CSS Profile^®

Once you’re ready to start filling out your CSS Profile^® or FAFSA^®, check out our FAFSA^® Guide for tips and extra information.