Students applying for federal financial aid programs must complete a FAFSA. Visit studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form.

We recommend using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) to complete the FAFSA. The DRT transfer process has been improved to include stronger security and privacy protections; therefore, tax information transferred will not display on the form or Student Aid Report. Instead, the phrase "Transferred from the IRS" will appear in the fields.

The CSS Profile is required if applying for institutional financial aid programs. Complete the CSS Profile online at https://cssprofile.collegeboard.org. If you do not have a College Board account, you will need to create one in order to complete your CSS Profile application. Carnegie Mellon receives your data electronically from CSS, so there is no need to send copies. The CSS Profile is not required if applying only for federal financial aid.

Submitting the CSS Profile costs $25 for the first submission and $16 for each additional submission. If this fee creates a barrier to submitting the CSS Profile, please contact The HUB to request a fee waiver.

Noncustodial Parents

In the case of divorced or separated parents, the noncustodial parent will complete an additional CSS Profile application using different College Board accounts/log-in credentials. For more information, see Info for Divorced and Separated Parents. The noncustodial parent will be charged a $25 fee regardless of the number of colleges requiring the information. Noncustodial parent 1040's or other tax information is not required.