Application process

University of Washington students use the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to apply for financial aid. The FAFSA should be received at the federal processor by January 15* for priority consideration for our aid programs for the upcoming school year.

The FAFSA/WASFA priority filing date has been extended to February 28, 2024 due to changes to the FAFSA application for 2024-25. For more details, please see this announcement.

To apply, go to https://studentaid.gov/ and follow the directions to file the FAFSA (and signature page if directed to do so). You will need an FSA ID to log in.  To apply for an FSA ID from the U.S. Department of Education. If your parents have to provide their information, they can apply for an FSA ID also. File your FAFSA as soon after December 31 as possible, noting University of Washington, Code 003798 on the form. This school code is used for all UW campuses.

Application for financial aid is separate from application for admission. For priority consideration, you must meet our financial aid date (your FAFSA must be dated and received by the Federal Processor by January 15* for the upcoming school year) even if you don’t know whether you will be accepted for admission. To qualify for financial aid, you must be admitted to the university at our Seattle, Bothell or Tacoma campus in an approved degree or certificate program (most non-matriculated students are not eligible for student aid), and meet minimum enrollment requirements.

If you do not want to use FAFSA on the Web, you can obtain a paper version FAFSA from a high school counselor, a local college, or by calling 1-800-4FEDAID. All applications must be received by the federal processor by January 15* for the upcoming school year for priority consideration for our aid programs.

Multiple Schools

The FAFSA limits the number of schools you can list to 20.  If you are applying to more schools than this, after the first FAFSA is processed, you can go back and add the additional schools.  The new schools will replace one or more of the previous school codes listed.  Schools have different priority filing dates, so when determining the order to add schools to your FAFSA, keep in mind these dates.

FAFSA Submission Summary

You will receive an e-mail to access FAFSA Submission Summary (FSS) after you complete your FAFSA. If you need to make any corrections to your application you can do so via studentaid.gov.

Aid offer

We begin sending aid offers in the spring and continue through the summer. Generally, this will be sent to you electronically so please check your UW e-mail and MyUW regularly. The aid offer shows you the types and amount of aid you are eligible to receive. Your aid offer may be an estimate until we complete the review of your FAFSA information. Please accept your aid as directed, even if you are requesting or expecting changes. Unaccepted aid offers are subject to cancellation.

Review process

You may be asked at any time to submit documents or other information to be used in the review of your application. Please respond to any request as soon as possible; review of your file may be delayed until all requested documents are submitted. The volume of material to be reviewed is substantial and we appreciate your patience during the review process.

Disbursement of aid

Financial aid generally begins disbursing one week prior to the first day of the quarter. To have your aid disbursed, you must have been offered and have accepted your aid, not have any holds on your aid, if you are borrowing loans have completed required entrance counseling and signed promissory notes, and are registered for the minimum required credits. See here for more details on aid disbursement.

Summer financial aid

If you want financial aid for Summer Quarter a separate application is required. See Summer Quarter for more information.

Late applicants, part-time students and 5th year students

In general, students whose FAFSAs are received after January 15*, part-time and post-baccalaureate (5th year) students are considered for limited types of aid. After January 15, we recommend that the FAFSA be submitted as early as possible before the beginning of the quarter in which you wish to receive aid. Less than full-time students and late applicants with exceptional circumstances may contact our office.

*The FAFSA/WASFA priority filing date has been extended to February 28, 2024 due to changes to the FAFSA application for 2024-25. For more details, please see this announcement.