Eligibility

For most types of financial aid we need to determine your financial need for the aid. There is no “income cutoff” or other simple method of determining whether you will qualify for need-based financial aid. If you think you need help paying for college, we strongly encourage you to apply.

In general terms, “financial need” is defined as the difference between what it costs you to attend school and what you and your family can afford to pay.

Cost of Attendance (Student’s Budget)
– Student Aid Index (SAI)
– Other Financial Assistance
Financial Need

Your Student Aid Index (SAI) is calculated based on the information on your FAFSA or WASFA. A standard government formula is used to determine the family’s contribution. It takes into account the family size, total income from the previous calendar year, and assets. Our office will review and may recalculate your SAI. Recalculation may include available income or assets not considered by the initial federal calculation, but that represent a more realistic amount that your family can pay for your education.

In addition, other resources you have such as private scholarships, other UW departmental scholarships, educational benefits, long-term loans, resident assistant benefits, and all other sources of assistance must be considered in determining your total resources. Please report to our office any other resources you have as soon as you know about them.

All college students are expected to contribute toward the cost of their education. The amount you and your family are expected to contribute is based on your financial circumstances and is represented by your Student Aid Index (SAI).

The SAI is a measure of your family’s financial strength and is used to determine your eligibility for financial aid programs. Your SAI is calculated using information provided on your FAFSA or WASFA. A federal formula established by law considers factors such as:

• Family size
• Income from the prior tax year
• Family assets

Our office reviews the information used to calculate your SAI and may recalculate it when appropriate. This review may take into account income or assets not included in the initial federal calculation if they more accurately reflect your family’s ability to contribute toward educational expenses.

Important: Your SAI is not the amount you or your family will pay for college, and it is not the amount of financial aid you will receive. Instead, it is an index used by schools and financial aid programs to assess your financial need and determine aid eligibility.

SAI Estimator

The University offers both state supported and fee-based degree programs. Students who are enrolled in most fee-based programs will use a different process to register for classes and pay for their courses than students in state supported programs.

When interacting with counselors in the Financial Aid office it is helpful to identify yourself as a student who is enrolled in a fee-based program. This will allow our staff to provide you with information specific to your situation; prevent interruptions of aid disbursement; and to provide you with information about the right amount of aid available.

Fee-based courses

Students enrolled in state funded programs can choose to take fee-based courses through UW Professional & Continuing Education (UWPCE). You will need to register and pay for your course through UWPCE. You will pay a separate fee for UWPCE course and the course will not be counted as part of your credits when determining your quarterly state tuition amount.

Some aid programs that are offered to state supported program students can apply to UWPCE courses while others cannot. Please see a Financial Aid Counselor if you have questions about the type of aid you were offered as it relates to you taking a fee-based course.

Registration

UW Professional & Continuing Education (UWPCE) provides registration and accounting support to many fee-based programs. Students should check with their program office to determine the level of involvement, if at all, that UWPCE may have with these processes. UWPCE registration and accounting processes are not automatically integrated into the regular UW systems.

You should be aware of the following processes that may impact you:

• Students whose program receives both registration and/or accounting support from UWPCE will register for their classes through MyUW.
• Students can view their account balance on MyUW and make their payments through a dedicated UWPCE payment portal accessed via MyUW.

Program and course fees

As a fee-based program student you do not pay tuition. You pay either a program fee (flat fee per quarter) or course fees (per credit charge per quarter). Each fee-based program has its own fee structure. This sometimes makes it difficult to accurately assess your exact fees. If we underestimate your fees due to credit differences, you have the option to submit a Revision Request for Additional Expenses (see Undergraduate forms or Graduate forms) documenting the additional fees. Please be aware that in most cases we are only able to increase student loan funds to cover the difference.

Aid offers

We assume full-time enrollment when offering aid unless your program was set up as a part-time program, in which case we assume half-time enrollment. If you are in a part-time program but enroll for greater than half-time, you may request a review of your costs based on the additional expenses from course fees by completing a Revision Request for Additional Expenses (see Undergraduate forms or Graduate forms).

There are both undergraduate and graduate fee-based programs. Fee-based students receive consideration for most of the same types of financial aid funds as state supported students.

Types of aid

As you pay fees and not tuition, types of aid that are not available to fee based students include:

• Tuition Exemptions (any kind)
• University Grants

Typically types of aid that are available to fee based students include:

• Federal grants
• State grants
• Scholarships
• Work Study
• Loans

Fee payments

Your balance due is found under Accounts in MyUW.  Fee-based degree students are shown two separate balances:

• You owe includes fees such as U-PASS and ISHIP, which are paid directly to UW Student Fiscal Services (SFS) by clicking the “Make payment” button.
• You owe PCE-Continuum College includes all course and program-related fees, which are paid to PCE/Continuum College by clicking the “Make payment to PCE” button.

You are responsible for paying any balance due after your aid has been disbursed.  The payment deadline is the third Friday of the quarter.

Disbursement of aid

In order to have financial aid funds disburse, you must be registered for the number of credits your aid is set up for, you must not have any financial aid holds, and if you accepted student loans, you must sign all corresponding promissory notes. If your financial aid offer is set up at least two business days prior to the start of the quarter, your aid will be reflected on the balance shown on MyUW. If your aid is available to disburse, your financial aid funds will disburse to your account and apply to your charges. Any residual aid after charges are paid will be made available to you.

You can sign up for direct deposit so your residual funds will directly deposit into your personal bank account, or Student Fiscal Services will mail a check to you on or after the first day of the quarter.

If you do not have enough aid to cover your full balance, you are responsible for paying the remainder. If you feel your balance does not accurately reflect the aid you were expecting, please check with our office so that we may provide options or investigate further.

Non-eligible programs

Not all programs are aid eligible. Students enrolled in these non-eligible programs are not able to benefit from UW financial aid. If you are enrolled in a non-eligible program and feel you need financial assistance to complete your degree you may want to investigate private loans. Program offices can communicate with our office to see if a new program is aid eligible.

Concurrent majors

If you are concurrently enrolled (double major) in a fee-based program and a state supported program it is often difficult to offer you aid correctly. Preparing aid offers in these cases is a manual process so you will want to contact our office to make sure you are receiving the aid you are entitled to.

Hybrid programs

There are ‘hybrid’ programs where students go from self-sustaining to state supported, or the reverse. You will need to be aware of when you are paying tuition and when you are paying fees to determine how to register and pay.

Generally to be eligible for aid you must be a matriculated student in an approved degree or certificate program. The only exception is for non-matriculated students who are taking courses required for admission into an approved degree or certificate program. If you are taking courses required for admissions and document that with our office, then you can be considered for the federal Stafford/Ford Direct Student Loan programs for a period of 12 consecutive months. You must be enrolled in at least 6 credits of required prerequisites per quarter to qualify for aid. You will be limited to borrowing up to a maximum of $8625 per year for undergraduate preparatory coursework. The actual amount you can borrow will depend upon your dependency status, costs and financial need.

To document your eligibility for these funds, you must submit a statement from your academic advisor of the courses required for admissions to your intended program.

You can download the Preparatory Coursework Instructions for more information.

An international student is a non-resident alien on a non-immigrant visa which permits full time study in the United States. A student must be a U.S. citizen or an eligible non-citizen (permanent resident) to receive federal financial aid.

Federal regulations and University of Washington policy severely limit the types of financial assistance available to international students. University admissions policies require that students with F-1, F-2, J-1, J-2, and G-series visas have enough resources to meet their expenses throughout their stay at the UW; students with these visas are not eligible for federal student aid.

Students should search their own country’s banks, embassy and/or ministry of education as they may offer additional information about other financial aid opportunities and loan programs. The UW International Student Services office provides further resources for financial assistance.

International students attending the Seattle Campus may apply for the University’s Family Housing or Child Care Assistance Program.