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How to Complete the CSS Profile
The CSS Profile (College Scholarship Service) is an online application that is used by colleges to provide financial aid. The CSS Profile is actually a product of the College Board, which is best known for the SAT standardized test.
The CSS Profile is specifically used by nearly 400 colleges, universities, and scholarship programs to award institutional financial aid and scholarships. This financial aid is separate from aid that a student might receive from their state government or the federal government through the FAFSA.
This can be a big deal for students who may qualify for specific scholarships and financial aid that are only awarded by a particular college.
In this post, we will be covering:
- Who should complete the CSS Profile?
- How is the CSS Profile used?
- How to complete the CSS Profile
- 2020-2021 CSS Profile Institutions & Codes
- Frequently Asked Questions about the CSS Profile
Who should complete the CSS Profile?
First things first: you will need to figure out whether you actually need to complete the CSS Profile. The only students who need to complete the CSS Profile are students who are attending or applying to one of the colleges, universities, or scholarship programs that require the CSS Profile.
You can jump ahead to this list of all of the institutions that require the CSS Profile in 2020-2021. You will also find each institution’s specific CSS Profile Code.
How is the CSS Profile used?
When you are completing the CSS Profile, you may notice that it goes into much more depth than the FAFSA. This is intentional, because the CSS Profile captures much more information than the FAFSA about your family’s financial situation. Private school tuition and medical bills are just two of the additional data points that will be considered with the CSS Profile.
How to complete the CSS Profile
Next, we will walk you through the steps of how to actually complete the CSS Profile:
- Create a College Board Account
- Gather the necessary materials
- Select your program
- Complete the application
- Submit the application
Step 1: Create a College Board Account
If you’ve taken the SAT, PSAT, or AP exams, the College Board website may look familiar! If not, you can create your College Board account to get started.
Step 2: Gather the necessary materials
Next, you will need to gather all of the necessary documents and materials to complete the CSS Profile (note that these are the same materials that are required by the FAFSA). This will include:
- Your Social Security Card
- Your Driver’s License (if you have one)
- Your Alien Registration number (if you are not a U.S. citizen)
- Your W-2 Federal Tax Return
- Records of your untaxed income
- Current bank statements
You will also need some information from your parents, including:
- Your parents’ Social Security numbers
- Your parents’ W-2 Federal Tax Returns
- Your parents’ records of untaxed income
- Your parents’ current bank statements
- Your parents’ investment and business financial records
Once you have all of this information available, you can move onto the next step!
Step 3: Select your program
Now, you can select the specific institutions where you will be submitting the CSS Profile. As mentioned earlier, these are the colleges and organizations that will require the CSS Profile. It is important to note that if you are applying to colleges, you should select all of the colleges that you’ll be applying to.
Step 4: Complete the application
Now you are ready to actually complete the CSS Profile application! Here’s what you can expect to answer:
- Basic personal questions about you and your family
- Questions about income, assets, and expenses
If you have any questions or anything is confusing, you can request help in the form of live chat, email, or phone. The CSS Profile also has an application dashboard that will help you keep track of your progress on the application.
Step 5: Submit the application
The last and most important step is to submit the application! One of the things that you will notice is a payment requirement. The CSS Profile payment is $25 for your first institution and then $16 for additional reports. However, you may qualify for a fee waiver from the College Board so you can avoid this application fee.
Generally, CSS Profile deadlines are pegged to the college’s application deadline. You can learn more about CSS Profile deadlines in our article.
2020-2021 CSS Profile Institutions & Codes
CSS Code | Institution |
1003 | Alabama A&M University |
5007 | American University |
3003 | Amherst College |
193 | Armenian Student Assoc of Amer |
3075 | Babson College |
2037 | Bard College |
3795 | Bard College at Simons Rock |
2038 | Barnard College |
3076 | Bates College |
6032 | Baylor University |
3080 | Bennington College |
3098 | Bentley University: McCallum Graduate School of Business |
3096 | Bentley University |
3107 | Berklee College of Music |
5059 | Berry College |
3083 | Boston College |
3116 | Boston University: School of Medicine |
3087 | Boston University |
3089 | Bowdoin College |
9785 | Boyce College |
3092 | Brandeis University |
3189 | Brown University |
2049 | Bryn Mawr College |
2050 | Bucknell University |
29 | Buttonwood Foundation |
4034 | California Institute of Tech |
6081 | Carleton College |
2074 | Carnegie Mellon University |
520 | Caroline E. Hill Scholar Fund |
1104 | Case Western Reserve U: MED |
1105 | Case Western Reserve University |
5104 | Catholic University of America |
5691 | Christendom College, VA |
4054 | Claremont McKenna College |
3279 | Clark University |
1124 | Cleveland Institute of Music |
3280 | Colby College |
2086 | Colgate University |
3282 | College of the Holy Cross |
5115 | College of William and Mary |
1134 | College of Wooster |
4072 | Colorado College |
2174 | Columbia U: Business School |
2116 | Columbia U: College and Engineering |
2173 | Columbia U: College of Dental Medicine |
2184 | Columbia U: Occupational Therapy |
2166 | Columbia U: School of Arts |
2095 | Columbia U: School of General Studies, NY |
7982 | Columbia U: School of Law |
2148 | Columbia U: Vagelos College of Physicians/Surgeons |
3284 | Connecticut College |
2822 | Cornell U: College of Vet Medicine |
2099 | Cornell U: School of Law |
2098 | Cornell University |
6120 | Cottey College |
3351 | Dartmouth College |
3355 | Dartmouth College: Thayer Sch |
5150 | Davidson College |
1164 | Denison University |
1166 | DePauw University |
2186 | Dickinson College |
2194 | Drexel University |
7059 | Duke Kunshan University |
5156 | Duke University |
2185 | Duke University School of Nursing |
5158 | Duke University: Nicholas School of Environment |
5152 | Duke University: School of Medicine |
2224 | Eastman School of Music: U of Rochester |
5183 | Elon University |
3367 | Emerson College |
140 | Emory U: Sch of Medicine |
5187 | Emory University |
3390 | Fairfield University |
2259 | Fordham University |
467 | Francis Ouimet Schol Fund |
2261 | Franklin and Marshall College |
5222 | Furman University |
2314 | Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth |
5587 | George Washington U: Law S |
9608 | George Washington U: Public Health, DC |
5246 | George Washington University |
7306 | Georgetown U: Law Ctr |
5244 | Georgetown University |
4563 | Georgetown University in Qatar |
5248 | Georgia Institute of Technology |
112 | Gestalt Institute of Cleveland |
2275 | Gettysburg College |
5314 | Global Citizen Year |
6252 | Grinnell College |
6253 | Gustavus Adolphus College |
2286 | Hamilton College (NY) |
3447 | Hampshire College |
3434 | Harvard College |
3441 | Harvard U: Dental Sch |
4238 | Harvard U: Harvard Medical School |
4341 | Harvey Mudd College |
2289 | Haverford College |
1295 | Hillsdale College |
2294 | Hobart and William Smith Coll |
206 | Horace Greeley Scholarship Fd |
7333 | Icahn Sch of Med at Mt Sinai |
1320 | Illinois Wesleyan University |
2325 | Ithaca College |
5331 | Jacksonville University |
5315 | Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, M |
5332 | Johns Hopkins University |
5346 | Johns Hopkins University School Of Medicine |
5532 | Johns Hopkins University: Peabody Conservatory |
2340 | Juilliard School, The |
274 | Kamehameha Schools |
1370 | Kenyon College |
2653 | Kutztown University |
2361 | Lafayette College |
1392 | Lake Forest College |
1398 | Lawrence University |
2365 | Lehigh University |
4384 | Lewis & Clark College |
5370 | Loyola University Maryland |
6390 | Macalester College |
2396 | Manhattan School of Music |
1442 | Marian University |
1444 | Marietta College |
2400 | Marist College |
3514 | Massachusetts Inst of Tech |
935 | McGill University |
4483 | Menlo College, CA |
186 | MES Fund, Inc. |
3526 | Middlebury College |
4167 | Montessori Inst of North Texas |
3529 | Mount Holyoke College |
85 | National Merit Schol Corp |
7929 | New Canaan HS Schol Foundation |
3855 | New Saint Andrews College |
2785 | New York University |
3667 | Northeastern University |
1561 | Northland College |
6490 | Northwestern College |
1565 | Northwestern University |
3669 | Norwich University |
1587 | Oberlin College |
4581 | Occidental College |
1595 | Olivet College |
4586 | Oregon State University |
4394 | Otis College of Art and Design |
2804 | Patrick Henry College |
4619 | Pitzer College |
4607 | Pomona College |
1630 | Principia College |
3693 | Providence College |
949 | Queens University at Kingston |
4654 | Reed College |
2757 | Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst |
3726 | Rhode Island School of Design |
1730 | Rhodes College |
6609 | Rice University |
5573 | Ringling College of Art and Design |
3780 | Sacred Heart University |
6629 | Saint Louis University |
4744 | San Francisco Conservatory of Music |
4851 | Santa Clara University |
4693 | Scripps College |
1842 | Sewanee: The University of the South |
439 | SF Mainliner Scholarship Prg |
2814 | Siena College |
2815 | Skidmore College |
3762 | Smith College |
9856 | Southern Baptist Theo Sem |
6660 | Southern Methodist University |
3748 | St. Anselm College |
6619 | St. Edwards University |
5598 | St. Johns College (MD) |
4737 | St. Johns College (NM) |
6638 | St. Olaf College |
4758 | Stanford U: Sch of Medicine |
7832 | Stanford U: School of Law |
4704 | Stanford University |
5630 | Stetson University |
2819 | Stevens Institute Technology |
3770 | Stonehill College |
2821 | Swarthmore College |
2823 | Syracuse University |
6820 | Texas Christian University |
550 | The 200 Club of Morris County |
6033 | The Minerva Schools at KGI |
4828 | Thomas Aquinas College (CA/MA) |
3903 | Thomas College |
1809 | Trevecca Nazarene University, TN |
3899 | Trinity College (CT) |
6831 | Trinity University |
3901 | Tufts University |
6832 | Tulane University |
2920 | Union College (NY) |
7152 | Univ of California: San Francisco |
1832 | Univ of Chicago |
4842 | Univ of Denver |
3936 | Univ of Massachusetts: Medical School |
5815 | Univ of Miami |
1839 | Univ of Michigan |
5816 | Univ of North Carolina Chapel |
1841 | Univ of Notre Dame |
2495 | Univ of Penn: Law School |
2951 | Univ of Penn: Perelman Sch of Med |
2933 | Univ of Pennsylvania |
2907 | Univ of Pittsburgh: Sch of Med |
5569 | Univ of Richmond |
2928 | Univ of Rochester |
2915 | Univ of Rochester Sch of Med/Dent |
4852 | Univ of Southern California (USC) |
5820 | Univ of Virginia |
982 | University of Toronto, Canada |
670 | Vanderbilt University: School of Medicine |
1871 | Vanderbilt University |
2956 | Vassar College |
2959 | Villanova University |
5558 | Virginia Commonwealth U: Sch of Med |
5084 | Wake Forest School of Medicine |
5885 | Wake Forest University |
5887 | Washington and Lee University |
6929 | Washington University: St. Louis |
2279 | Weill Cornell Medical School |
3957 | Wellesley College |
3959 | Wesleyan University |
3963 | Wheaton College (MA) |
4951 | Whitman College |
4953 | Whitworth University |
6941 | William Jewell College |
3965 | Williams College |
7245 | Woodrow Wilson Grad School of Teaching + Learning |
3969 | Worcester Polytechnic Institute |
3989 | Yale University: Physicians Associate Program |
3807 | Yale University: School of Art |
3809 | Yale University: School of Drama |
3990 | Yale University: School of Medicine |
3987 | Yale University |
Source: The College Board
Key next steps for students
- Check this list to see if any of the colleges on your list require the CSS Profile.
- Complete and submit the CSS Profile by the proper CSS Profile deadline.
- Remember, you probably also need to complete and submit the FAFSA too!
- Learn about the differences between the CSS Profile and the FAFSA
- Figure out how to pick a college once your CSS Profile is submitted
- Learn how to read your financial aid award letter