Will CSS Profile financial aid offers get adjusted when FAFSA results arrive?

in my experience most schools will adjust automatically when they get ur fafsa data but it doesnt hurt to email them and let them know its coming. my son had this happen last year and 2 schools adjusted but 1 didnt until we called them

Financial aid officer here. Schools that use both CSS Profile and FAFSA typically create preliminary packages based on CSS data, but they will absolutely recalculate once your FAFSA comes in. This is especially important for federal aid eligibility like Pell Grants, which can only be determined through FAFSA's Student Aid Index (SAI). I would recommend emailing each school's financial aid office with your student's ID number and a brief note explaining that your FAFSA was recently submitted and you're interested in understanding if/how that might affect your current offer. Most schools will automatically adjust, but communication never hurts.

Just went through this nightmare with my twins. The financial aid system is COMPLETELY BROKEN this year! CSS Profile aid packages came in December, but FAFSA was such a disaster we couldn't submit until February. Here's what happened: 2 schools adjusted automatically (one UP by $4300, one DOWN by $2100). The third school required us to submit a formal "aid reconsideration request" even though it was THEIR FAULT for sending incomplete packages before receiving all our information!!! The whole system is designed to confuse families and hide the true cost until it's too late to choose another school. CRIMINAL!

I think it depends on the school tbh. My brother got a better package after FAFSA came in but my cousin got worse lol. Just call them is my advice

This is a common situation, especially with the FAFSA delays this year. Here's what you need to understand: 1. CSS Profile is used primarily for institutional aid (scholarships and grants from the school itself) 2. FAFSA determines your federal aid eligibility (Pell Grants, work-study, federal loans) 3. Most schools that require both will automatically adjust packages when both forms are processed However, I recommend calling each school to confirm. If you're having trouble getting through to financial aid offices (which is very common right now), check out Claimyr (claimyr.com). They have a service that helps connect you to financial aid representatives without the endless hold times. I saw their demo video (https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ) and it's actually quite helpful for getting through to overloaded offices during peak season.

Has anyone actually got MORE money after their FAFSA came in? I'm in a similar situation but worried my CSS Profile made us look better financially than the FAFSA will.

UPDATE: I called all three schools today. Two said they'll automatically recalculate once the FAFSA comes in, and one actually asked me to email their office when I see that our FAFSA has been processed so they can manually review it. Thanks everyone for the advice! I feel much better knowing I'm not the only one dealing with this two-form nightmare.

When my daughter applied last year we had this exact problem but with the addition that our financial situation had changed since we did the CSS Profile. We ended up having to do a financial aid appeal after everything was processed. My advice is to keep extremely detailed notes of who you talk to at each office and when. The whole financial aid process is so frustrating this year!

As someone who just went through this process with my daughter, I can confirm that most schools will automatically adjust your aid package once they receive your FAFSA data. The key thing to understand is that CSS Profile and FAFSA serve different purposes - CSS determines institutional aid while FAFSA unlocks federal aid like Pell Grants. Since you mentioned potential Pell Grant eligibility of $7k, that's a significant amount that definitely should be added to your packages once the schools process your FAFSA. I'd recommend being proactive and contacting each financial aid office to let them know your FAFSA has been submitted and ask about their timeline for package adjustments. One thing that helped us was keeping a simple tracking sheet with each school's contact info, when we called/emailed, and what they told us about their process. Some schools were faster than others at making adjustments. Don't stress too much - the delays this year were widespread and the schools are used to dealing with this situation!

I'm going through the exact same thing right now! My son applied to 4 CSS Profile schools and we're still waiting for our FAFSA to process after the system delays. It's so stressful not knowing what our final aid packages will look like. From what I've been reading here, it sounds like most schools will automatically recalculate once they get the FAFSA data, but I think I'm going to follow everyone's advice and call each school proactively. The idea of potentially missing out on thousands in federal aid because of a communication gap is terrifying. Has anyone had experience with schools missing the May 1st deadline for updated packages? I'm worried we'll have to make our decision without knowing our true aid eligibility.