Speaker 1: work a little harder every single day to get through the day.

Speaker 2: Best condition,

Speaker 3: hello, everybody. Welcome back to another live session with me and Francisco. How are you doing? or a number two. If you are someone who has watched us in the past, for those of you who are joining for the first time, we are live on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook. And the way that we do these live streams is we select topics that are relevant to whatever's going on in the world of college admissions this time of the year, in this particular case, as we're going to learn. We got an Amber alert. As we're going to learn in today's live stream, we are going to be talking about the CSS profile and the FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. They are both forms. There are both requirements or prerequisite to receive a lot of financial aid awards if you qualify for them. So we're going to be talking about the differences between them, what they unlock, why you should or shouldn't fill them out, and basically everything you need to know about them so they can be a vehicle so that you or your student can get money to pay for college.

Speaker 2: Exactly. Yeah, over the past couple of weeks, we've talked about what's happening to the FAFSA, about maybe possible delays, or most likely delays that will be happening similar to last year's. And we did mention and discuss the CSS profile in these talks, and we did get a lot of questions about the form, about who has to fill out the CSS profile versus who has to fill out the FAFSA, who qualifies for the CSS profile, who's able to fill it out. And just, yeah, we realized that we really wanted to talk about this process and kind of differentiate the main differences between these two forms because it's important to know about them before they're available, especially if your student is either a senior who's applying to colleges, or if they are currently in college and they have to renew either the FAFSA or the CSS profile. So definitely we'll be covering that information in today's live stream. And I do see people are joining us today saying one, two, one meaning that this is the first time that they join us. We have some people like it's saying that they've been with us before. So thank you so much for joining us today and for wanting to be informed because it's important. These are important topics of conversations, points of things that you should be aware of and should be learning about as you go, especially if you are a student who plans to go to college or is currently a senior. And even if you are a parent of a student who might be in middle school or who might not be a senior yet, this information is going to be very relevant when senior year comes around and it's time to fill out these forms. So thanks so much for joining.

Speaker 3: Right, so just to get started with the information that we want to share, first things of all, what is FAFSA? What is the CSS profile? They are both forms. A lot of people say, oh, they're scholarships. They are loans. No, they're forms. And what they do is they, through a series of questions, very pointed questions, they determine the circumstances, the picture, the financial aid, the financial makeup of the family, of the household. They do so by getting, specifically the FAFSA, gets a number called the SAI number, the Student Aid Index. And what it does is basically, through this number, different entities, more specifically the federal government and the colleges and universities that your son or daughter will be attending, they'll be able to make decisions based on their own policies and how generous they are as to how much money, how much financial aid they're going to be offering or extending to your students, right? So to get, again, to very clearly understand the purpose of each of them, the FAFSA takes the Student Aid Index, and then the main thing that it does is it checks eligibility for federal aid, for more specifically the Pell Grant, but also things like Federal Work Study. And then the different colleges and universities that will be accepting you, and that you'll be going to college to, they'll also take this Student Aid Index, and again, based on how generous they are or their own policies, they'll make decisions as to whether or not they'll offer you the Presidential Scholarship for X, Y, C, or this type of scholarship for whatever, whatever, whatever, but it's all based, or it's all predicated under the premise that you fill out these forms, right? Because they might be the prerequisite to receive both merit and need-based aid, and a lot of people think that you only fill out the FAFSA for need-based aid, and a lot of people say, well, I don't have financial needs, so it would be a waste of time, but if you read the fine print, there are a lot of merit-based awards or institutional awards that might have the prerequisite of you having completed the FAFSA in order to disburse these funds, right? So that's it for the FAFSA route. When it comes to the CSS Profile, what does it do? Well, basically the same thing. This is a form. It's a little bit longer. It's more complex. It has way more questions, and the difference is that not all schools require it, but the schools that do require it will heavily be influenced in the decisions that they make at the institutional level. Again, CSS Profile is not for federal aid or like the FAFSA or other types of aid, but mostly for institutional awards, and these institutions will be like, okay, do still send me the FAFSA, but on top of that, we have a requirement for you to also send us the CSS Profile so that we can make a final determination as to your family's financial makeup and how much financial aid and scholarships you might need and what we can do for you, right? So the CSS Profile is not a requirement by all schools, but all schools that require it, if they're on your list, should get that information, and super, super important, but they both serve the same purpose of seeing the financial makeup of the household. Now, Laura, I don't know if you want to talk to our audience about when to fill out these forms or who fills out these forms.

Speaker 2: Exactly, yeah. Well, the CSS, not a difference historically. Usually, in years prior, not this year or the year before, the CSS Profile and the FAFSA actually opened on the same day, October 1st, but as you all know, and if with last year, and it looks like it might happen again this year, the FAFSA has not been opening on October 1st. So this year, when it comes to the CSS Profile, it will be available on October 1st. That's what they said, and we haven't heard any changes to that. And last year, the CSS Profile form changed a bit, and there didn't seem to be any issues with that form as opposed to the issues that the FAFSA had. And it looks like the FAFSA did have the intention of opening on October 1st, again, this year, this coming October 1st, but unfortunately, there seems to be some issues again, and there's going to be a, what they are saying right now, as of right now, is that there's going to be a soft launch on October 1st, but most parents and students won't really have access to the form until December 1st. So just to summarize, CSS Profile this year will be available October 1st, which is next week, and the FAFSA will be available for, should be available for everyone on December 1st, fingers crossed that works out, and eligibility, right? Who is eligible or who can fill out these forms? So as we explained in the last couple of weeks, the FAFSA, people who are eligible to fill out this form is U.S. residents, U.S. citizens, and eligible non-citizens. So there is a list on the website, studentaid.gov, that specifies who qualifies under the eligible non-U.S. citizen category. So it's important to read that and to know and to realize or be aware of whether or not you qualify under this category of eligible non-U.S. citizen. And for the CSS Profile, who qualifies for this form? Well, this is a form that's available to citizens, residents, and international students. So the schools that do require the CSS Profile, because not every school requires this form, it's only certain schools that require students to send out this application, this CSS Profile form, it's available for residents, for U.S. citizens and international students. So yeah, just wanted to clarify and to let you all know, especially with those opening dates, hopefully the FAFSA, at least by next year, fingers crossed, it will be fixed. But my tip for my parents and my students who are seniors of parents of students in senior year or who have to renew the FAFSA, do go online. And if you have your FAFSA account created on October 1st, because remember, it is a soft launch, which unfortunately means that some people will have access to the form and some might not. Who knows, maybe you might be one of the lucky few people who do have access to the FAFSA this year on October 1st, or in the coming weeks between October 1st and December 1st. So yeah, do check it out, do go online and see if you can fill it out starting October 1st, and maybe every other day or once or twice a week, you can be checking. But hopefully by December 1st, it's all fixed and working.

Speaker 3: Yeah, I had a meeting with a student today that was telling me how her school already notified them that they're a pilot school, so they are going to be taking FAFSA forms from all students at that school. So again, keep that eye open for the particularities of your respective school. Nonetheless, if your student does not qualify for the early October 1st deadline, they can still fill it out as early as it opens up, because as we tell our best college aid members, the funds, a lot of the funds that get unlocked or that you become eligible for through the FAFSA are distributed on a first come first serve basis. So what's important here is to make sure that we set ourselves up to be as eligible to as much aid and scholarships as possible. So there are four sources of money that your student could qualify or get money from. There is the federal government, as we mentioned, the institutions that they'll be attending, the state where they reside if they are going to go to college within the same state where they, to college within the same state that they went to high school, and then there are private awards that come from specific companies, charities, foundations that set up a fund to give money to students and they have their own particular policies as to who gets what amount, right? So the name of the game is to make sure that you fill out all the necessary forms, be that the FAFSA, the CSS profile. For state awards, you have to have merit, but you also have to fill out in certain state-specific financial aid forms. So you wanna make sure that you don't self-disqualify by thinking, oh, well, this only is for students that have financial need and I don't have financial need, and automatically disqualify yourself from merit-based awards from the federal, I mean, from the institutions you're attending to or the state, right? So don't miss out on these funds. It's better to fill out these forms and not get money than to be eligible for money and not fill out those forms and still not get the awards, right? So you send everything out and then you leave it up to the hands of the different entities that will be reviewing your case and your application. That's the name of the game.

Speaker 2: Exactly, and I do want to, cause we did get some ones in the chat, which meant if you wrote one is that you've never seen these live streams before and it's your first time. And we do like to give you guys a lot of free resources, a lot of information. And I know that throughout this live stream, we've probably mentioned a bunch of points or a bunch of important factors of the college admissions process that maybe if you're a first time high schooler parent, you might not be aware of, which is why we created a presentation, a free webinar, a free resource titled The Six Steps to Go to College with Scholarships, where we share with you some very important and very helpful resources that can help you understand some of the terminology that we might cover here or in our live streams, or just understand the college admissions and scholarship process better. So if you want to have access to this free training, which again, it's completely free and is for anybody who is watching, you can check out if you happen to be watching us on Instagram or on TikTok, you can go to the link in our bio and register to watch this free training. And if you happen to watch us on YouTube and Facebook, the link to this video and this free resource is in this video's description in the comment section. So I will be sharing it with you guys so that you can learn just free information and just very helpful tips that helped us, helped thousands of students dominate and kind of navigate this college admissions process that it's always changing. I mean, as you've seen in the last couple of years with the changes to the FAFSA and changes to the SAT, going from pen and pencil and paper to going digital, and even schools going from tests, requiring test scores to some going test optional. So yeah, you have to be on top of things. And if you're here watching and learning, you're already on a step to the right direction.

Speaker 3: It means that you care more than the average person that's just watching cat videos right now or other reels. So that was the first step. But as you mentioned, that is a free resource we have in the link in our bio. Another thing, if you came in late, you're gonna be able to watch the recording of this live stream on both our Instagram page, as well as our YouTube and Facebook pages. We'll be posting it. But yeah, definitely recommend checking out that free presentation. The main difference between that and this is today we're focusing on the FAFSA and the CSS profile on this live stream. But on that presentation, since it's prerecorded and we update it every few months, we make sure to have it, it's more dense because we have a script for it and we prepare it with the most relevant data. So apart from being more dense with information, it's more of an overview of the entire process, more of a bird's eye view. Whereas these presentations, these live streams are very specific. For example, today, FAFSA CSS profile, but in that presentation, we will be talking about extracurriculars. We'll be talking about essays. We'll be talking about how to become a better applicant. So it's applicable for students, not just who are worrying about the FAFSA and CSS profile in 12th grade, but rather students who are also going through the process in middle school, ninth, 10th, 11th grade. So do check out that free training in the link in our bio.

Speaker 2: Yes, and again, I will be sharing it in the comment section for people who are watching us. And there's another video description for YouTube and Facebook, but I will be sharing that link with you in that section. So it's easy and accessible to you guys. But yeah, please make sure you share these live streams, follow us, subscribe, if this is your first time watching on YouTube and share our profile with people who might need this information, who might benefit from these tips and these resources. Our goal is to help as many families and students as possible because the opportunities are out there. You can go to college in the United States without falling into thousands of dollars debt. It is, the debt, student debt is a crisis and is a problem in this country, but there are ways to navigate and the system and to take advantage of resources so that you can go to a great college paying as little as possible. It's all about knowing where to look, how to look, when to look, and knowing which resources and which opportunities are available to you and your family.

Speaker 3: So, yeah. By no means is it a perfect system, is the system we got. So we need to make a perfect plan to navigate it as gracefully as we can. Do check out that free training. And if not, you can just give us a follow. It is on the top right or left screen on Instagram and TikTok and subscribe on YouTube and Facebook. Thank you so much for your time, for paying attention, your comments, being here for the people that are recurring viewers, for being here every week, for the people that watched us for the first time. Hopefully we'll see you either inside the training in the link in our bio, or we'll see you next week on this live stream. Thank you so much.

Speaker 2: Thank you, guys. Have a wonderful night. ♪ Best call to trade ♪