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Regular Decision

2024-2025 Regular Decision

Financial Aid Application Instructions (U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents)

Frequently asked questions about applying for financial aid

Financial Aid Application ItemsRegular Decision
Filing Date
Indicate intent to apply for financial aid on admission applicationJanuary 15, 2024
CSS Profile (all biological/adoptive parents,
regardless of current marital status)
January 23, 2024
FAFSASee below
Tax Documents (IDOC Submission)January 23, 2024

To apply for financial aid as a Regular Decision candidate, complete the steps below.

  1. Indicate your intent to apply for financial aid when you complete your admission application in order to be considered for financial aid from Macalester.
  2. CSS Profile
    Visit cssprofile.collegeboard.org to complete the CSS Profile. Include Macalester’s code (6390) in the school release section. There is a fee associated with filing the CSS Profile, which is automatically waived for many low-income filers.

    Divorced/separated parents: If your biological/adoptive parents are not married and do not reside in the same household, both parents must complete separate CSS Profile applications in order for you to be considered for financial aid from Macalester. For more information about this requirement, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions page. If you do not have contact with one of your biological/adoptive parents or cannot have that parent complete the CSS Profile, you can request that this requirement be waived. Some students will have this requirement waived automatically based on information on their custodial parent’s CSS Profile.
  3. Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
    Visit studentaid.gov to file the FAFSA and include Macalester’s school code (002358) in the school release section. The FAFSA is used to determine eligibility for federal and Minnesota student aid programs. If you wish to be considered for federal and Minnesota programs only (and not Macalester financial aid), please see the instructions and contact the Financial Aid Office to express your intent.

    2024-2025 FAFSA timing: Due to significant changes to the FAFSA, the 2024-2025 FAFSA will not be available until sometime in December, 2023. Macalester does not need students to complete the FAFSA when completing the rest of their financial aid application by the dates above; we will instead estimate a student’s eligibility for federal and state financial aid programs based on information on the CSS Profile. We will, however, need students to complete the FAFSA at a later date if the student will be attending Macalester, so we can finalize eligibility for federal and state aid.
  4. Tax documents (IDOC submission)
    After completing the CSS Profile (step 2 above), you will receive an email from the College Board IDOC service. This email will come from [email protected] and will provide instructions to use IDOC to submit tax documents and applicable supplements required to apply for financial aid from Macalester. Your IDOC information will specify which documents are required. In general, they will include your parents’ 2022 federal tax return and W-2 forms. Parents who do not file a tax return will be asked to complete a Non-Filer Statement (provided by the IDOC service).