Which Schools Require the Non-Custodial CSS Profile?
In the not too distant past, families of divorce or separation only had to worry about completing financial aid forms for one parent, the custodial parent. This was determined to be the parent that provided more than 50% of the student’s support, and it was usually the parent that the student lived with the most during the previous year.
Simple enough, right?
However, times have changed. Now, more and more schools are requiring information on both the custodial parent AND the non-custodial parent. The FAFSA still only requires information on the custodial parent, but more and more schools that require the CSS Profile to be completed by the custodial parent are ALSO requiring the form to be completed by the non-custodial parent.
So, how do families determine if the non-custodial parent is required to complete the CSS Profile?
First, you will want to make sure that the school you are considering requires the CSS Profile in addition to the FAFSA. I have detailed how to do that in this article.
Once you have determined that the school requires the CSS Profile, the next step is to determine whether or not the non-custodial parent is required to complete the CSS Profile. To do so, either follow this link or simply complete a Google search for ‘CSS Profile School List.’
This page is a list of all schools that require the CSS Profile in some capacity. On the page you will notice several headings, including Institution State, CSS Profile – Domestic Students, and so on. The one that you are looking for is ‘CSS Profile – Noncustodial Parents.’ This column will indicate whether or not the school requires a CSS Profile from the non-custodial parent. College Board has recently added a convenient drop-down menu that allows you to sort by schools that do and do not require the CSS Profile from non-custodial parents.
So, to recap, in order to know whether or not the student’s non-custodial parent is required to complete the CSS Profile you should:
Confirm if the school requires the CSS Profile in addition to the FAFSA.
Confirm if the school requires the non-custodial parent to complete the CSS Profile as detailed above.