Step-By-Step Guide
The Parents’ Financial Statement (PFS) gathers in one place relevant information about your family size, income, and expenses. Once you complete your PFS, you can share that information with any one of over 1,700 SSS partner schools.
These schools use the results as a starting point to calculate your financial need and determine the actual financial aid grant it can give you. Most schools will also require that you submit certain tax documents. Each school has deadlines for the PFS and required documents, so be sure you are familiar with those dates.
Access the Parents’ Financial Statement (PFS).
After you click on the “Complete Your PFS” link above, you’ll be prompted to”Create an Account” in the Family Portal.
Because many private schools use the PFS, you only have to fill it out once to apply for aid at multiple schools for all your children.
The Family Portal is:
- Secure: Your information is password-protected.
- Practical: You can fill out part of the Family Portal in one session and complete it later.
- Convenient: The Family Portal is an interactive, adaptive application—meaning that the computer adjusts to ask only the questions that are pertinent to you.
- Helpful: Help Tips are available right on your computer screen.
Complete the PFS
On the PFS, indicate all schools that should receive your information. This way, you only have to complete one form to apply for aid at several schools. The fee for submitting your PFS is the same no matter how many schools you want it sent to.
Fill in all requested information. The PFS will ask you about family size, total income, savings, investments, indebtedness, medical and dental expenses, any unusual expenses, and other assets such as home equity.
Follow the step-by-step instructions along the way. If you are completing the PFS online, there is help next to each question and many other resources.
If you need more answers, e-mail us at sss@communitybrands.com.
Submit any additional documents required by the school.
Completing the PFS is just one step in the overall process. Most schools require additional documents, such as your most recent income tax return. Ask each school what they require, where to send, and the deadline. Sometimes a school’s required documents deadline is different from the PFS deadline.
IF you have been instructed by the school(s) to which you are applying to send documents to SSS, you can choose to upload them electronically within the Family Portal. Read more about uploading documents electronically.
Schools will communicate their financial aid decisions to you.
Schools will contact you directly about final financial aid decisions. SSS does not decide the amount of financial aid you receive; each school makes that decision independently. Schools use the SSS “Estimated Family Contribution” as a starting point for making their financial aid decisions. However, each school will have additional considerations such as its total overall financial aid budget, as well as policies specific to each school. Read more here about understanding SSS’s calculation and how schools use it as a starting point for making their financial aid decisions.
If, after submitting your PFS, you decide that you need to make a change to your PFS and/or add a school, you may do so. Here’s how:
Step 1
Step 2
Log into the Family Portal.
Note that once you’ve completed and sent the PFS to one or more schools, you can still return to the PFS Online and send your results to additional schools by following the steps below.
Step 3
Confirm that the application year in the upper right corner is the one you intend to modify. During some months of the year SSS processes applications for two academic years. Be sure you’ve chosen the correct year.
Step 4
From the left-hand navigation, click on the section in which you wish to make a change. If you wish to add a school, select section 5. “Select Schools.”
Step 5
Make your change (or add a school) then press “Save and Continue.”
Step 6
On the next screen, confirm that you wish to submit that change by pressing “Continue.”
Changes made to your PFS are available to the school within the hour.