“I’m not talking about a student portal that CSS maintains; I’m talking about a portal that a school might have. That being said, if CSS establishes and maintains a student portal that makes available to the student (and potentially by extension the custodial parent as well) the private and sensitive financial information of a non-custodial parent, that’s the same kind of failure that I’m referring to in the post that you quote above.”
I’ve been referring to the Profile Student Portal the whole time. In my very first reply on 12/13/17 to the original poster I said ‘Profile Student Portal’.
As for sharing ‘private and sensitive financial information’ of an NCP, that potential outcome is disclosed to the NCP upfront before he/she completes NCP Profile process. Thus, if he/she decides not to provide info via the Profile Student Portal (for sensitivity and privacy reasons), he/she can, instead, send documentation via traditional means directly to the school financial aid office. The FAO would then update the student’s Case in the Profile Institutional Portal and flag the student through his/her Profile Student Portal that the NCP’s info has been received and all documentation requirements have been met. FWIW, approximately 99.999% of NCPs will use the Profile Student Portal to upload their documents; very, very few will decide to go the other route.