Financial Aid Guide: FAFSA, CSS Profile, and Scholarships

Financial aid starts with the correct application year and ends with a usable budget. A large package can contain grants, loans and an opportunity to earn wages; those components affect your finances differently. Compare what attendance costs after grants, then decide how the remaining amount could be covered.

Use 2026–27 for the current aid year and 2027–28 for attendance beginning in fall 2027. Match the form, tax year, and program limits to the period you will attend.

Separate grants, debt and employment

Component	What it does	What to check
Grant or scholarship	Generally reduces the amount you must finance	Eligibility, renewal, enrollment and circumstances requiring repayment
Student loan	Supplies borrowed money that normally must be repaid	Borrower, annual limit, interest, fees and repayment terms
Parent loan	Creates a separate obligation for the parent borrower	Parent eligibility, limits and the parent’s repayment budget
Federal Work-Study	Provides an opportunity to earn wages in an eligible job	Job availability, pay rate, work schedule and award limit

Budget work-study as wages earned during the term. Students must find an eligible job, and funding and job availability vary. A $2,400 award at an assumed $15 an hour requires 160 paid hours to earn the full gross amount. Plan another source for bills due before those paychecks arrive. Federal Work-Study guidance.

Choose the right FAFSA and tax year

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is free and determines eligibility for federal programs. Many states and colleges also use it for their aid. Submit the form, review the resulting offers, and then choose which aid to accept.

Aid year	Attendance period	Required tax information
2026–27	July 1, 2026–June 30, 2027	2024
2027–28	July 1, 2027–June 30, 2028	2025

For a fall 2027 start, choose the 2027–28 FAFSA using 2025 tax information, following Federal Student Aid’s instructions. Ask the college which aid year applies to a summer session.

The 2027–28 federal deadline is June 30, 2028. State and college priority deadlines can be much earlier, especially for limited funds. Record all three levels and submit by the earliest relevant priority date. Department of Education FAFSA process.

Set up contributors correctly

Each required FAFSA contributor needs their own StudentAid.gov account and must complete their information, consent and approval, and signature. Sharing one account between the student and parent can cause problems. Being a contributor does not make someone responsible for paying the student’s college costs; borrowing a parent loan is a separate decision.

FAFSA dependency rules differ from IRS tax-dependent rules. A student does not automatically become independent for aid because they live away from home, support themselves or file a separate tax return. Follow the form’s dependency questions. Federal Student Aid’s parent instructions.

For divorced or separated parents who do not live together, use the parent who provided the greater share of financial support during the preceding 12 months, following the FAFSA parent-selection questions. When support is equal or neither parent provides support, the parent with greater income and assets is the contributor. A remarried parent’s spouse may also need to provide information. Parents living together follow different reporting rules. Parent reporting guidance.

Track each contributor’s invitation, consent, signature, and completion status. Then verify that the entire FAFSA has been submitted and review the submission summary for remaining tasks.

Understand SAI and report assets accurately

The Student Aid Index is a formula-based eligibility index, not a bill, a grant amount or a required family payment. Its range is −1,500 to 999,999. A negative value indicates greater financial need, but the school still determines the actual aid offer. SAI explained.

Tax information and assets have different reference dates. The 2026–27 federal handbook says asset values are current as of the date the FAFSA is signed. It excludes the principal home and retirement-plan balances. Starting with 2026–27, specified exclusions also cover family businesses with 100 or fewer full-time-equivalent employees, farms where the family resides, and qualifying family-owned commercial fishing businesses.

For dependent students, qualified education savings designated for that student follow the applicable parental-investment rules; accounts designated for other children are excluded. Use the account ownership and dependency categories in the 2026–27 FAFSA handbook.

Record the legal owner and current value of each reportable asset. Keep statements supporting those amounts and ask the aid office about an account whose treatment is unclear before submitting.

Know the current Pell Grant limits

For 2026–27, the maximum Pell scheduled award is $7,395 and the minimum is $740. These figures describe scheduled awards; actual payments depend on eligibility, enrollment intensity and other program rules.

A new eligibility ceiling generally excludes applicants with an SAI equal to or above 14,790, twice the maximum scheduled award. The Department identifies an exception for qualifying dependents of certain deceased servicemembers and public safety officers under the Special Rule. Eligible students may receive up to 150% of their scheduled award through year-round Pell, subject to the program’s requirements and lifetime limit. These are not automatic awards for every student below the SAI ceiling. Official 2026–27 Pell notice.

For 2027–28, use that year’s official award schedule when it is published and confirm the amount in the college’s actual offer.

Use CSS Profile only where required

Check whether each college or scholarship program requires CSS Profile for nonfederal aid. Participating schools can request additional household details and use their own method to assess institutional financial need.

The published fee is $25 for the first institution and $16 for each additional institution. Four institutions would cost $73 without a waiver. College Board fee information.

Undergraduate students living in the U.S. may qualify for free submission when family adjusted gross income is up to $100,000, when they qualified for an SAT fee waiver, or when they are an orphan or ward of the court under 24. College Board also describes separate eligibility for U.S.-resident noncustodial parents. Fee-waiver rules.

After submission, review the dashboard for document requests, including IDOC where applicable. Keep the application deadline and document deadline separate. College Board provides a dashboard correction option if information needs updating. Application steps.

Compare actual offers with a cash-flow worksheet

Consider this hypothetical annual offer:

Item	Amount
Full cost of attendance	$32,000
Grants and scholarships	$14,000
Net price before borrowing or earnings	$18,000
Student loan offered	$5,500
Work-study opportunity	$2,400

The offer’s net price is $18,000. Accepting the full $5,500 loan and earning the full $2,400 work-study amount leaves $10,100 to cover through other resources, before loan fees or payroll deductions. Put the borrowed amount and expected earnings in separate financing columns.

Then separate billed charges from books, travel and other living expenses. Identify when grants and loans disburse and when wages arrive. Review scholarship renewal conditions and whether housing costs cover the entire period you need. Use the award comparison guide for a more detailed worksheet.

Respond to changed circumstances and outside awards

After a job loss, divorce, or major uncovered medical expense, file with the required tax-year information and request a special-circumstances review from the college. Submit its requested documents and ask for a revised offer reflecting the decision. Difficulty contacting a parent or a risk from that contact falls under unusual circumstances, a separate process. Federal Student Aid’s explanation.

For scholarships, track eligibility, required materials, deadline, renewal and the award’s payment method. Before counting an outside scholarship as additional money, ask the college how it changes your existing package. Request an updated offer showing the result.

A manageable final record contains the submitted forms, confirmation dates, requested documents, actual offers and a yearly budget. Revisit it when enrollment, household circumstances or renewal requirements change.