The scholarship is funded by a $25 million endowment from the Tata Education and Development Trust, where every year, 20 ...

Moreover, the CSS Profile is customized by the institution, so each school can have its own formula to calculate its aid packages.

For instance, the CSS Profile asks for all 529 accounts owned by the beneficiary’s parents, whereas the FAFSA only counts 529 accounts for which the student is the beneficiary.

Discover the benefits and process of completing the CSS Profile, an important form for accessing financial aid for college.

Financial aid is any form of funding that helps a student pay for college, such as a Pell Grant, loan or merit-based scholarship.

The article has focused on FAFSA so far. But there are schools that use the College Scholarship Service, or CSS, Profile (primarily private schools) to calculate their financial aid packages.

The CSS Profile is a financial aid application that's used (or required) by nearly 250 colleges, universities, and scholarship programs to award non-federal aid.

The lawsuit targets a form known as the CSS profile — administered by the College Board — that some schools use to determine how much financial aid a student will get.

To apply for the 2025-26 academic year, students must complete the CSS Profile application, which is available from October 1, 2024, to November 1, 2024.

Harvard and dozens of other elite private universities were accused of violating federal antitrust law by collaborating on a financial aid strategy in a federal class-action lawsuit.