Complete CSS Profile Guide for International Students (2026)

[Music] Hello and welcome. We are going to be completing the CSS profile as an international student. So, you definitely want to stick around because I'm going to go through every single question and every single step you'll need to do in order to fill out the CSS profile. Now, remember the CSS profile allows universities to understand your finances. And this is important if you're applying to schools that give need-based financial aid because they're going to look at these numbers here and these numbers are the ones that are going to determine how much money you get. So, let's get started. So, the first thing you want to do is come to the CSS profile website. It is cssprofile.colboard.org. You're going to come to this website and then you're going to hit on the sign in over here. Once you hit on the sign in, you probably haven't created an account before. So, you're going to come down here and you're going to create an account. Now, I am going to behave like I am a South African student who's applying for the first time to schools in America. So, what I'm going to do over here is I'm going to type in my name, my last name, my gender, my birth date, and then I'm going to put my email. Now, of course, guys, this is not my birthday, okay? I'm I am filling out some stuff over here, but that's not my birthday. Let's keep on going over here. Let's confirm the email. So, my high school graduation. So, since I am applying from South Africa, what I'm going to do is I'm going to put my high school graduation over here as January of 2018. Now I have a postal code that's going to be outside the United States since I'm acting like you're a South African or basically I'm South African. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to click outside the US. All right. And then where did you go to school? So this is going to be for the high school that I went to. So I'm going to type that in. And you can see that we might also have an issue here. But again, this is the high school that I've put in here. Of course, I'm no longer in high school because I graduated. So I'd click over this. I'll click over here if I'm no longer in high school. But if you are, you type in your high school over there, but I'm no longer in high school. And over here, you can kind of ignore all of this. You can say I'm outside of America. And basically, I'm going to just type in an address over here. So, the first line over here is going to be your street address. And then the second line is going to be your house number or your apartment number. So, if you have a apartment or a house number, this is where you're going to put it over here, you know. And then the third address can go even more specific, but usually we don't use the third address. It's just the first and the second address. Now, the city is where your house is located. And then the postal code, I believe, was 1618. The province was and the country is South Africa. So, now we're going to go down over here. If you want to stay connected, I say no, I don't want these emails. And then your parents information, you can put over here. Usually, I wouldn't put any information here because most of your parents probably don't understand this whole process here. So, I'd leave that empty. I'd hit I agree. And then I'm going to hit continue. Perfect. So now over here, they're going to be asking me some questions. They're saying, "Hey, confirm. This is my first name, my last name, my email, my gender, and my birthday." Okay. So, as you can see, we just confirmed that everything is okay. So, I'm going to hit confirm. And now, they have sent a verification code to my email. So, the verification code has been sent to my email. I am going to open this verification code. So, it's going to look something like that. So, I'm just going to copy the number. I'm going to put it in there. I'm going to hit verify and then I'm going to make a password and then please enter one or more words with no spaces. We all use this to verify your identity when you call us. So over here I can enter something over here and I'll just call it or another type of security phrase I'll put over here. Perfect. So we've created a college board account. The college board account has been created. This is perfect. So, it kind of signs you out. So, now what you want to do is actually sign in to complete the CSS profile. You're going to be doing it for the fall 2026 or spring 2027, but basically it's fall 2026 that most people are going to be applying to. You're going to click on that. It's going to give you a bunch of information over here. You're going to agree and then you're going to now continue your application. So, over here, you're going to click that. You're going to get started. So, let's go. Okay. Okay. So, the first thing they're going to be asking over here is basic information about you. So, they're going to be asking information about the student, information about your family, your parents' income, and then your student income and assets. Okay. Now, before you begin, they want you to collect some documents. So, income documents. These are like tax returns and stuff like that and payment stubs. Now, again, international students, many people don't have this. It's okay if you don't really have it. There's other ways that you can kind of prove your eligibility and these assets that you claim. Same thing here with bank statements etc. Some international students don't have it. There's another other documents that you can use. Okay. Not only that, they have frequently asked questions over here that you can open up and you can look at some of the frequently asked questions. All right. And here it is saying password. So let's put in the password. Yeah. Frequently asked questions over here. So you can see a couple of things over here and you can see if you have any questions as an international student, this is where you would be coming. Okay, let's keep on going now. So let's continue. Perfect. So we'll first collect information about the student and make sure it's correct. Then we'll move on to the other questions. Okay, so the student information. So you're going to be putting your name over here. It's William Casser. My nickname is William. This nickname you enter here will be shared of colleges and within the application. Okay, that is great. I'm going to hit continue. You're going to put your phone number over here. Now, you can put your plus whatever number you have over here. I'm going to put my phone number and I'm basically going to hide my phone number so not everybody can see it, but I'm going to put my phone number over here. Then you're going to put your email going to continue. Oh, so they don't like the plus one. So I'm just going to put my number without the plus one. Okay. So let's keep on going. William Leau, what's my date of birth? I'm going to give the same date of birth I gave before. What's your marital status? So this is if you're married or not. So you can put something over here. Widow, divorce, married or in a domestic partnership, whatever you are in. William Cass or William Labour's permanent country of residence. So where you live right now, this is where you live. It's not where you want to live. It's where you live. Um and what you are a permanent resident of class citizen of I put South Africa. So confirm this is my birthday. I say yes. And we keep on going. So indicate if they if these are true for William Leau, right? So if you look over here, they're going to say financial aid officers may require supporting documentation to make sure these are accurate. So remember that they're going to ask you for those. William Labbor has their own children or other legal dependents not including their spouse. So this is if you have any children. Okay? So remember if you have a child and the child receives more than 50% of their support from you then they are a dependent for you. So I do not have a child but if you had you put yes over here but I have no no child so I say no. Okay. So my home address is basically 1 123 Main Street number 10 Kemp Park 1618 and let's go. Okay, so this is very important, right? This is asking if you have applied before for a CSS or if you filled out the CSS before that you need to put in here your CB thin aid ID. I haven't. So I'm going to just and most people here haven't. So you're just going to hit continue. So perfect. We got this. And let's make sure that this information is accurate and hit continue. Okay. So now they're going to be asking about my parents. And this is where the most important thing starts happening. So first you want to tell them about your parent one and then your parent two. So tell us more. So let's say you have your parent one here. So let's say this is my father. Let's save and continue. So that's my father and then my mother. My mother is Sarah. So let's say this is your mother. And of course you have a place for your stepfather, stepmother, legal guardian other or if there any of them are deceased. Okay. So perfect. So you can also add another parent over here. All right. So, let's hit continue. But, okay. So, the next thing is household verification. What's the marital status of your parents? So, if your parents are separated or married or divorced or unmarried or unmarried and living together, then you can type any of those in. Mine are married, right? So, I will keep on going. Okay. What country do Matthew and Sarah live? So, Matthew and Sarah, they live in South Africa. Okay. So, it's important to know what currency you'll be using. Complete your application using the currency most or all of your financial documentation is in. So, there's a question here. Should you convert your amounts to US dollars? No. Enter all financial amounts in the currency you choose here. So, what currency am I going to be choosing? I'm going to be choosing the rand. Okay. South African rand. So, you' use your currency. Okay. and hit continue. Now, in this section, we'll ask questions about William's current school year. So, we're going to hit continue. What is William's current grade level for the 2526 academic year? So, this is right now. What's my current grade level? Now, for most of you guys, you'll be applying from high school or outside of high school, right? So, if you're in your last year of high school, that's what you're going to be putting, right? Or if you put not in school, it means you've graduated already. All right? So you can put either fifth, 12th grade or not in school. So what I'll do here is I'll just put not in school. Now add or remove college programs. Okay. So this is your plan for the 2026 2027 period. So remember you applying to 2026 2027. So these are all the schools that you want to apply to. All right. So let's continue. Now over here you want to add the CSS code number for these schools. So, what we're going to do is now we're going to be looking for the CSS code number for many of the schools that we want to apply to. Now, make sure that you're only really applying to schools that can give you either a CSS fee waiver or an alternative form that you can fill out so that you don't have to pay for the CSS. Now, I do have a list of these schools on my community. So, if you look on my community, you'll find lists of these schools where you can get CSS fee waiverss. But in our example over here, I'm just going to continue with several of the schools that I have listed on my profile. And basically, you can you can take a look at these schools for instance and and try and apply to them and because they give CSS fee wavers. But for our example over here, I am going to be going and finding the CSS code number or you can actually even find the the college program's name, but I'll go for the CSS code number. So, what I'm going to type in over here is CSS code for University of Rochester. Let's do that. So, when you Google it, you'll see that it gives you a code. And this is a code. And this, as you can see, is University of Rochester. So, I'm going to select it. And then for University of Rochester, they're going to ask me some questions. Okay. So for the school that I'm going to, they asking me what year am I in the school, right? So when I get to the school, what year will I be? Will I be a first year student, second year, third year? And because I'm applying as a freshman, I'm going to be saying first year undergraduate. So most people are going to be first year undergraduate. Okay. And then University of Rochester assigned ID if known. Now you can click here. What does this mean? It says if the school program that you're applying to has assigned you an identification number, enter it here. Right? So this would be like the ID number that the school gives you. If you haven't already applied to the school, then you wouldn't probably get this ID number. So you can just leave that blank. Then what are your housing options required? Most of the time, almost all the time, say at least for your first year, you're going to say on campus. This allows you to get more money from the schools most of the time. Are you applying to this school regular decision, early action, or early decision? So you're going to select which one you're applying to over here. Most of the schools are going to be regular decision. you're going to have one school that you can apply to for early decision. Okay? And in some schools you can apply for early action. But you hit continue. Now let's add one more school. So I'm going to come over here and maybe let's add Williams College. So Williams College. And now you can see I have to dive in a little bit deeper to find the CSS code. Okay. So over here you can see that I want to find the CSS code and it's right here. That's a CSS code. So I'm going to put it over here. I'm going to hit search and you can see. Wow. Look. So for the Williams College, it does not accept international students and that's what I mean. There's some schools that don't and you will see that they give you an actually an alternative form that you can fill in over here. So requirements for US citizens, that's what it is. And then you can find the requirements for international students. Let's go find the requirements for international students. Click here and you'll see for Williams College, you must be indicating yes on the common app. So Williams College is not a good example over here. So, I'm just going to go for another college. Let's go. Let's actually do Yale University. So, Yale University code. Let's go there. Let's take that. So, I don't want to add Williams. I want to add Yale. And you can see it it accepts international. So, we can keep on going. Same thing over here. First year. Again, these will be only the schools that you apply to, guys. This is what you'll be selecting over here. Okay. So, once I have my schools, you can see both of them are here. I'm going to say continue. And now they're going to say tell us more about the programs. So I'm going to click on Yale. Um you can tell them more. Tell us more again just opens the the former options if you want to tell them more. And now you can save and continue. Okay. So great start wrapping up the first section. We're now going to use this information to figure out the your CSS profile. Right. They're also going to ask questions about your parents over here, their income in particular. And then you need to make be sure to to have their tax returns, etc. So, I'm going to hit continue. Now, they're asking for your parents' details. And let's hit continue. And now, this is what you're going to have to do. For your dad, you're going to have to put their information here. So, now we are filling out my parents. I'm going to put 1970. Over here, they're asking for their email address. Basically, they're going to be sharing some information with your parents. This email address will be used by College Board to send information about the financial aid process. It'll be shared only with the colleges and programs receiving this application. So, they do require an email. So, you're going to put it down over here. All right. So, I'm going to write it and keep on going. So, highest level of education completed. This is going to be what your parent completed as the highest level. Did they get a college degree or a did they go to university and get a bachelor's degree etc. So, I'm going to click high school over here. Now, this is Sarah. Now, highest level of education completed high school. And again, you can also do other or unknown. All right, so we're going to hit continue. And now we need their tax returns. Okay, so for parent one, right? So for Matthew, now they need their tax return. So did Matthew and Sarah file a federal tax return for 2024 required? So this is important if your parents either filed a tax return or not. So some countries there's no tax returns that parents file, others they are. So one of the things is you can look exactly what it is, right? So if parents country's tax year does not follow the calendar year, report information from last year tax that ended before April 1st, 2025. So either you can say completed, estimated or and not required to file a tax return. You can either click on the one of these. This is the one I'm going to select just because this is going to be most common for the people who are watching this video. I'm going to hit continue. So now, okay, to set up the rest of the application, Matthew and Sarah will need the following documents. 2024 tax return if applicable and wage statement. So this is their tax return and their wage statements. Again many of the time people will not have access to this. So we'll see how we can solve this. Okay. So over here we're going to ask they're asking the question how much did Matthew earn from work? Okay. So this includes wage, salaries, compensation, tips, etc. So this is how much money did your father or your whoever you put over here earn from their work. So this again is in your native currency, right? So and it's going to be for the year. Okay. So this is for the year and I want to make sure that we're looking at it to be correct. Yeah. 2024 from each employer. So this is going to be for the year. So let's keep on going over here. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to be putting in rand 250,000 rand. Okay. And let's say my mom made the same. So let's continue. So you're going to find out how much they made. And sometimes I might even go back here. Actually, sometimes your one parent doesn't make money and you can put zero over there. Okay. So that's what I'll do. Actually, put one parent. So parent non US tax return or non- tax filer entering information or enter the following amounts for Matthew and Sarah for 2024. If the country's tax year does not follow the calendar year, report information from the last tax year that ended before April 1st, 2025. For example, if the tax year runs from April 1st to March 31st, enter the information for the tax year that ended March 31st, 2025. Okay? So, if the tax year runs from July 1st to June 30th, enter the tax information that ended on June 30th. Okay. So, this is just giving you information of how you can enter stuff. Again, if you're not too familiar with this, copy it, paste it into chat GBT. All right. And that will give you a lot of your answers also. So, let's continue. So, here's another question. Total compensation from employer required, right? So, this is a total compensation from employer include wages, etc. All right. So, this is for parent non- tax return form. So over here I'm going to be putting the 250,000 for my dad. Now here's the next one. They're asking you did you get any interest income? So this is from kind of think of it as stock trading, stock investing. This is money that your parents made as a result of investing money. If your parents again most people's parents would have not made any money over here, but if they did make money, this is where you would put it. So my parents didn't make any money from the stock market or from investing. All right. Again, if you're unsure about this, copy it and put it on into chat GPT dividends. The next one is dividends. And this comes again from investing. If your parents have invested into a company, they can be entitled to dividends. And those dividends are paid annually or quarterly depending on what company they invested in. Now again, most people this is not going to apply. Okay? Because it means that your parents own stocks and those stocks are giving your parents back money. Most people do not have this in the regions where you guys are most probably applying from. So over here I'll put zero. Oh, let's take a look at this next question over here, which is basically the net income from businesses and partnerships. So basically, if any of your parents own a business, okay, if any of your parents own a business, then you're going to be putting information in here for that business. So what's going to happen is they're going to fill this out if they have a business. Now, basically how it works is even if they have an informal business, they're going to fill this out or you're going to help fill this out for them. So, the net income basically means the profit from the business. How much money did they make? So, for instance, if after the year they made 100 rand, this is what you're going to be putting in here. Now, remember it's it's how much they made. So, you have to subtract the money that they got in from the revenue minus the costs of of running the ship, right? So, over here you're going to put the amount and sometimes it's best to also if you do not have the documentations necessary to try and estimate it to the best of your knowledge. Net income from rental, real estate, royalties, trusts, etc. This is the thing about it. Most international students are going to be zero over here. But it's basically are your parents making any money from loaning out their house or you know giving some or getting some income from royalties that they got from you know a movie or singing or something like that. So most people this is going to be zero income from farms. This is if your your parents own a farm or something along those lines. Adding farm products. Again this is very vital in developing countries where your parents might be selling you know fruits and vegetables on the street. So here I have zero. Okay. So let's keep on going. Either other taxable income. So what should you report? So stuff such as capital gains. Capital gains is basically again stock market and investing. most of your parents aren't in that. Then pensions, annuities, unemployment compensation, and alimony. Again, many of these will not apply to people from, you know, very poor African countries in particular. So, if your parents have had any of these, and remember, you can copy this and add it to CHBT to see what exactly they mean, then you would put a number over here. And this is their taxable income from there. Over here, it's actually zero. Here's another one, pension, annuity, or retirement distributions received, not reported elsewhere on this application. So, if they've gotten money from pension or annuity anywhere else, then they need to put it here. Most Africans in particular are going to have zero over here. It's okay to have zeros. So the next one over here, all taxes, mandatory all withholdings and set aides paid or without include income taxes. So again, so here what they're basically asking about is they're asking how much money your parents have paid in taxes. So how much money has your parent paid your government in taxes? Okay, so you're going to put that number over here. So for instance, let's say my dad made 250,000 rand. The tax rate in South Africa is maybe 30%. So he would have paid 30% of 250,000 rand, which is something like 75,000. Okay. Now once you add that, they're going to list the sources and amounts for the taxes and withholding amounts entered above. So this basically says list the sources and amounts for the taxes and withholdings amount entered above. So basically they want you to break down this amount into what exactly was paid. What was paid to the local government, to the state government, to the federal government. You need to make sure that you you fill this out. So in particular over here, you know, especially in South Africa, it's probably going to be something like 65,000 was um paid to the state. So I put 65,000 state or not state but national providence and then 10,000 to the city for instance. Perfect. Now next one is going to keep on going. For the next few sections, enter the total amounts Matthew and Sarah received in 2024. So here you go. Parents income and benefits. So housing, food, and other living allowances received in 2024 as members of the clergy. Okay. So the next question over here is they're asking about income and benefits that your parents may have received from certain professions. So housing, food and other living allowances that they may have received. Now this is very specific to different type of jobs. So for instance, if they live in a church and or they are priest or something like that or if they are a soldier, typically this is where they'll be getting some living allowances. So if your parents get some type of living allowance, then you would add it over here. But most likely they do not. This would be zero for most people. Okay. So if your parents live in for instance a employment house. So if you do not own a house but you live in a house where your parents is employed in then that's going to be considered as a benefit that you would put down here. But again make sure you go to catch for this. Next one is going to be other untacked income in 2024 including but not limited to workers compensation disability etc. So if your parents didn't get taxed for anything else let them know over here. Right? Again this will be zero for many people. Now again this might vary for each person. So for instance if your parents are getting a lot of money from other family members you can put the amount over here. But I'm going to put zero because I don't know whether my parents are or I do not believe my parents are getting income from somewhere else. Alimony received in 2024. This is another one. Alimony in particular is when like your father or your mother have got a divorce and they're receiving money from their partner, their previous partner. Again, this is not very relevant in many African countries. So this would be zero. Now let's keep on going. Now enter the amounts Matthew and Sarah received or expect to receive in 2025. So this is how much money your parents you think your parents are going to receive. So let's say Matthew was 250,000 before. Let's say he is now 255,000. Okay, so this is going to be an estimate. Same thing with Sarah. My mother's income was zero the last time. Let's say it is 250,000 now. Let's say she's working now. Okay, other taxable income. So these are other things such as, you know, income they're getting from investing and dividends and stuff like that. So this is going to be zero tax unted income and benefits. So again, very similar to the one before. It's stuff like hey, you know, if you have a 401k and all of these type of things, this is really specific to Americans. Okay. So if you're getting like child support or or if your parents are getting child support or workers compensation, again, not very very applicable to international students. I would put zero over here. Perfect. Now, let's keep on going. Do you expect change? Basically, now the question is, do Matthew and Sarah expect a significant income change in 2026 due to a new job, job loss, retirement benefits, etc.? So, again, this is what do you think the future is going to look like? Some people are going to say no, some people are going to say yes. Let's go with yes. So, here's a question. Enter the amounts Matthew and Sarah received or expect to receive in 2026 for the following. Right? So, let's say Matthew's income is going to take a drastic hit. He is going back down to, I don't know, 100,000. Let's put 100,000. Let's say Sarah is also going down to 100,000. Okay? other taxable income. So this is other things. Again, we're going to put zero here and we're going to put zero here. Perfect. Now we ask about employment of your parents. So what is Matthew's employment status? Let's say my my dad is employed by others. Yeah. You have to describe their occupation. What do they do? So let's say he is a mechanical engineer. Where does he work? You're going to give the name of the company that he works at, ABC Corp. How many years has he worked there? Let's say it's two years. And let's continue. Now, which retirement plan does Matthew participate in? Again, most of these are not going to apply to you as an international student. You can either hit other plan over here or you can just kind of look and see if any of the plans apply to you. You can just copy any of these down and see if they apply to you and put them in CHBT and see if they apply to you. You should definitely be asking your dad which one apply to you, but most likely none of them are going to apply to you. Okay, now let's see. Sarah's Let's say she's self-employed, business owner. So, what's Sarah's occupation? I'm going to say business owner. Where does she work? You can put entrepreneur and you can also put something like not applicable, right? So, NA is not applicable. How many years does Sarah work there? We can put five years. Now, again, let's say Sarah does put money into retirement plan. Remember retirement plan is when they are to retire each month they're going to be putting money into this retirement plan. So you can say another type of plan. So if you do that it's they're going to ask you some more questions over here. Okay. If you say that so the current value of Sarah's tax deferred and after tax retirement pension annuity. So this is how much money has she saved up so far in her retirement plan. So we said she has another type of retirement plan. So now you're going to put the amount that she saved up for that retirement plan. Let's say it's just $10,000 rand. So we continue. Now we add housing information. And basically they're going to ask are your parents address the same? If it is then you say yes. So in my instance here they are. If you say no they they'll ask you where else where your parents live. What best describes your family housing situation, you can click over here. You can select live with others if students family lives with family or friends and does not pay rent. So if they're not paying rent, so if you own a house or if your family owns a house, you'll click that. If you're renting, you click that. If you live with others, you'll click that. If you have housing provided by your employee, you'll click that. Most people will be renting or living with others. What is Matthew and Sarah's monthly housing payment? So this is how much are they paying per month. Okay, monthly. So they want to see the principal and interest only. Do not include escro payments, insurance, premiums, association, or property taxes. So they only want to know how much you guys are paying based on the interest. And then for renters, and this is again for this is for home owners, sorry. And then for renters, you're going to just enter your monthly rental payment. And if you were living with others, it's going to be zero if you don't pay anything. So over here, let's put out that we are putting a monthly. Remember this is into the monthly. So the monthly over here, let's just put 10,000 for monthly. Okay. What best describes Williams housing situation? Same type of thing here. Are you living with others? Are you renting? Right? So this is you, right? So I live with others, right? Cuz I live with my family. If you live with others, please explain the the living situation. I live with my parents. Let's continue. Now, important part of financial aid is understanding who's in your household. On the next page, we're going to ask questions about people in your household, such as spouse and children. Okay? If you're married, enter information about your spouse. Additionally, enter everyone either than you who lives in your household and receives more than half of their support from you. So, if you have a kid, you're going to add dependent over here. Okay? So, you can add a dependent over here. For instance, let's say Sam, Sam, let's say this is the kiddo. Although, I already said I don't have a kiddo, but let's let's let's change that now. Relationship, you can say it's a siblings or the child, so the student's child. You can click that. All right? And you can keep on going. All right? You can keep on adding dependent. So you can keep on adding someone like your siblings, right? Your step siblings. You can have your siblings over here. You can put them here. Let's do January 2024. And let's continue. So we just have them here. So you keep on adding as many as you need. Okay. Let's keep on going. Now just be careful over here. It's remember additionally enter everyone either than you who lives in your household and receives more than half of their support from you. So this is people who receive half of their support from you. Not from your parents, from you. Okay. So let's say it's a child and then a sibling here doesn't really receive half of their income from you. So we can just have the child. So I removed the stuff. So next they're asking about child support. Now child support is something that's unique for Americans. Did Matthew and Sarah receive child support in 2024? So, this is money that you would get from, you know, the biological father or mother of the child if they're not together? So, here I'm going to hit no. Did Matthew and Sarah pay child support in 2024, 25, 25? I'm going to say no. Again, it's if they pay if they have children outside and in fact, let's actually put the yes here just to show you guys how it works. Let's say they did pay child support. Going to ask you, how much did they pay? And let's say in total they paid uh 20,000 rand. Okay. In 2025, how much did Sarah, Matthew, and Sarah pay in child support? Let's go again. 25,000 rand. Perfect. To give more complete picture of your financial situation, we need to know about some of Matthew and Sarah's expenses. So, we continue. Did did Matthew and Sarah have any medical or dental expenses? Expenses not covered by insurance. So here they're asking you, hey, you can put some information here if your parents had to pay out of pocket for insurance or basically for medical expenses and that one covered by insurance. And they honestly want to know if it's more than 33% of their income. So you' say yes here if that happened or no. And if you say yes, you can click yes and see. They'll say how much money, how much medical and dental expenses not covered by insurance. We can look over here and say, hey, let's say $15,000 rand was not covered by insurance. Let's keep on going. How much medical and dental expenses not covered by insurance in 2025? Now let's also put 15,000. Okay, so 2024. Now they're asking for 24. Did Matthew and Sarah have the following expenses? Repayment of any college loan debt in 2024? If they did, you'll say yes. If not, you'll say no. And so, I'm just going to say no for both. Did Matthew and Sarah have the following expenses? Alimony. Alimony is paying back your spouse, your ex- spouse, or money. I'm going to say no over here. Now, they're asking for other living expenses. So, this is going to be things such as your utilities, which is basically how much does your parents pay on the household utilities like water and heat and stuff like that, right? And you want to know this per year. Okay? So, this is per year. So, per year, let's put 35,000 rand. And that is very cheap. Food for everyone in the household. This is going to be an estimate again. Let's put 25,000 rand. clothing for everyone in the house. Let's put 10,000 rand. Housing necessities. And you can look at what it includes. It's stuff like personal care, cleaning, stuff for the house. Basically, let's put 25,000. Tell us how much money your parents spends on these other expenses. So, transportation to and for from work. Let's say this is 25,000. Other expenses not listed above. This is other things. Again, let's say it's 4,100. So, I can say cell phones and inter or cell phones for instance, cell phones and entertainment, something like that. You're going to fill this out. It's going to be to the best of your knowledge. In this section, we'll ask about assets that belong to Matthew and Sarah. To determine, they're going to look at the assets that's owned. Then you'll provide current value for each of the assets. Statements from bank or financial institutions may be helpful for this section. Remember, provide the value of each asset as of today rather than average or original points. This section is entirely about the assets that belong to Matthew and Sarah. So current cash, how much money does your parents have? Let's say they have said 36,000 rent. Now let's see. Okay. Do's parents have any have the following assets? So you can look over here what these assets are. I'm going to say no because they don't have investments. If you put investments, I'll ask you a little bit more about it, but they don't have invested. Do they own real estate beyond their primary home such as land or something like that? Let's say yes, they own some land. Do they own a farm as part or part of a farm? They say yes. So we can see how those look. Okay. Assets they own by how they names of their children. So if they have assets in the name of their children, you would say yes here, but I say no. So yeah, so number of real estate properties. So I'm going to say one. So now they want you to tell you more about the real estate property. So I'm going to tell them more. So the property where it's located. I'm going to put Kemp Park. And I am going to click over here. None of the above. We're going to put a zip code here. What's the current market value? Again, going to be an estimate. Okay? You can use you can try and find out how much money your property or the property of your parents is worth is worth by googling it or putting the property of your parents there and googling it and seeing how much is worth if they own that property. So let's say it's 100,000 rand money owed on this property. How much money do they own on this property or owe on this property should I say? Let's say they owe 50,000. So the value is 100,000 but the property is worth 50,000. You can add more real estate. Let's continue. Add about the other real estate over here. Well, basically let's go back to what they said. So like for this that I just for this address that I just added, they want more information. Okay. So here number of months per year this property is rented to others. I can say it's 10 months per year. What was your property's purchase price? Again, not many of you guys will be going through this, but I'm just showing you as an example. It's going to be, let's say it was, well, what year was a property purchased? Sorry. Price of this property. When they enter the price, purchase price or market value of the time this property was acquired. Let's say it acquired for 50,000, right? That's worth 100,000. Now, here you can put the number of businesses owned or operated. You'll put a one over here, a two or three for your parents if they have a business. And then you'll tell people more about the business. So, let's say it is just a shop. The current market value of the shop, this could be something like 10,000. Again, it's it's really up to you to try and estimate the best to your knowledge. Current amount owed on this business is how much money your parents owe on this business. I'm going to put 25 2,500. And now we can keep on going. Now they want to know more about the business shop. They want to know the address. So let's keep on going. I can just say no address. Let's say it's your mother just walking around. Type of business. You can say sold proprietorship. This is basically it's a business owned by one person. Okay. Primary product or service that your parents are selling. I can say clothing and house furniture. Name a parent who owns the business. So I'm going to put Sarah here. Percentage of parents of parents ownership. It's going to be 100%. The date the business was started. You're going to put the date it was started. Do other family members have ownership or or in this business? You you can say yes or no. On which tax form is the income of this business reported. You can put other, right? So you can see there's other over here. That's what you Okay. So gross receipts for the business is basically how much money the business brought in before expenses. So this is like your revenue give or take. So let's say it brought in 65,000 rand. The total expenses for the business in 2024, how much did you spend on the business? Let's say it's 45,000 rand. Do family members receive a salary or wages from this business? So if other family members receive a fam a wage, you'll put it down here. If not, you just say no. Provide additional information about circumstances of the business. So you can give some more insight on the business. I can say she is a street vendor. Save and continue. Number of farms owed, you can put it here. I'm just going to put zero. Now we're going to keep going. I'm going to keep going. Now we're looking at the students income. So this is my income, right? So I have not filed or will not file a tax return. Now we can keep on going. Again, William, how much money did you earn? You can put the amount of money you can earn. But again, if you're very young and you don't have any money, it's probably zero. They asking how much money did you earn? How much money did your spouse earn? Zero. Tell us more about the income received by William Leau in 2024. So, actually, let's redo this. We not put zero. Yeah. So, over here, I'm going to be going to click not file the tax return. Let's continue. Let's say the amount I I earned was 10,000 rand and again this is is is for the year. Okay, very low 10,000 rand for the year. Let's say my spouse also received 10,000 rand for the year. Tell us more about the income. Was it interest income? So interest income is not income from work. It's more so from investments. So that is zero here. And then you can add additional income. So taxable earning and from need-based work programs and taxable grant and scholarship aid. So if you don't understand this, it's basically if you got income from work, study programs, etc., then you need to put it here. Over here, I'm going to put zero because it doesn't apply to us. Tell us more about untacked social security benefits. Now, again, social security benefits is for Americans, not for Africans or people abroad. Now, tell us more about any untaxed income received by William Leau. It's zero. I haven't. It's if you got any other income that wasn't taxed. Okay, now they're asking Williams expected income. If William is married, we'll ask about their income on the next page. So, here is Williams expected earnings. How much money do you expect to earn in the summer of 2026? So, let's say I expect to earn 1,000 rand or even, you know, 5,000 rand give or take. Then the next one is how much money will you earn while studying? This is while you studying. Okay. In 2026, 2027. So, once you're in America, I think I can earn 50,000 rands. And then overall the next one is Williams expected other tax income. So it means any money either any other money that will be taxed like a salary. So this is if you're doing freelance work etc. you'd put it over here or contract work. And then William Leos expected other taxed income. So the expected either is stuff like housing allowance, food allowance, government benefits, all of those type of things. Okay, that would come here. So and capital gain tax and all of those type of things. So that's zero. And then I'm going over here. This is now for the summer. So will you receive any money or support that is not taxed from a job during summer 2026? That's the question that they have over here. That's going to be zero. And then so again, if you're doing freelancing or something, but I would still put zero here for now. Then untax income for the school year. I would put zero here also. So let's keep on going. Okay. Tell us about William Labor spouse's expected income. Let's say my spouse only makes a,000 or 10,000. This is kind of the same question. So, I'm just going to go through them. I'm just going to put zero and zero. Okay. How much does William Abu expect to receive from the following sources to pay for educational experiences from your parents? How much money do you think you're going to be getting? Be honest here. So, maybe 1,500 rand or even zero. Okay. Scholarship grants from sources other than the colleges or universities. So if you're getting a scholarship outside of the university, you can put the amount here, but most people are going to be zero. Employers, this is if you have tuition benefits, most of you guys this is going to be zero. Relatives other than they have parents. So this is sources from people who you know who might be giving you money. So maybe people will be giving you, you know, some money, but here I'll put zero. Will Leau receive funds from the government for college expenses? No, most people will not. Most international students will not. Will William receive funds from any agencies or foundations for the college expenses? No. Will William Leore receive tuition benefits? No. Will William Leore pay for transportation to the US? So this is how you going to pay for transportation to the US. So you can try and say a gift from relatives other than parents for instance. Okay. So now we need to get a a bigger picture. How much child support will William Labau pay? Again, child support is if you have a child and you're paying and you're no longer with the mother and that's the child support that you pay. So that's zero for me. How much medical dental expenses not covered by insurance did William have to pay? So this is if you had to pay any dental insurance, medical insurance or dental or medical bills. Now they're looking at the assets of William Leau. Do you have investments? You know, do you have anything that you're investing in? You can say yes or no over here. Do you have a trust? No. Do you have a real estate other than your home? No. Business? No farming. No. I just put yes for investments to see how it's going to look like. Okay. How much does William Labour currently have in cash and savings? Let's say I have 10,000. How much is the current market value of William Labour's investments? Let's say they 5,000 rand. And let's continue. So, does William Leore own any retirement assets? No. Now remember like the 10,000 rands, the 5,000 rands, it's in my currency. Okay, it's in my currency. So, those aren't in dollars. Okay. Select all that have an ongoing financial impact for your family. Okay. So, check all that apply. You will have an opportunity to explain your sections on your next page. If you do not have any circumstances to report, select nine. So, is there a change in employment? You'll be able to talk about that. Is there exceptional medical or dental expenses? You'll you can talk about that. Do you have to support a family member? Do you have recurring, non-recurring income or expenses? Do you have other? Do you have none? So, I'm just going to hit other. You can select multiple, but I'll hit other. Okay. So, here's where you put the special circumstances, right? So, this is where you're going to talk about additional information that will help people understand about your financial situation. This is where you'll tell them about your annual costs paid and additional cost. So, your annual cost for something else. So, let's say you know we have to relocate due to potential flood in the area and it will cost 30,000 rand. Now for South Africa to American and remember look I'm always keeping it in my currency but just to give you guys some context South Africa's currency compared to America currency is like 20 to1 so 20,000 rand is basically $1,000. Okay. So now you can see as you can see let's go back to the sections over here. Everything is complete. Now you can review your application. You can skip the review and now you can hit the certifications that you gave all the important information over here. And you will see that at the end of here is you would have to pay. Now remember you can get a a payment by fee. You can pay by fee payment code. So this is if you send the universities a message asking for a fee waiver then and you get a code you can put it here or else you're going to have to pay. But you can see for two colleges this is how much it will cost. But basically you would pay and then you would go to the final stuff and and then you'll submit your CSS profile and then later on the schools are going to be asking you to upload some financial documents. So the schools are going to be asking you to do that and that's where you're going to be doing it through the schools. Okay? You're not going to be doing it p primarily on the common app here on the CSS profile. You're going to be filling out or uploading all the documentations that are required to the school's portal. All right, but yes, thank you so much. Hope you guys are good and hope that this has given you some insight into using the CSS profile.