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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:

1. Create a College Board Account
2. Gather the necessary materials
3. Select your program
4. Complete the application
5. 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