Application for financial aid is separate from the application for admission. University of Washington Tacoma students use the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or the Washington Application for State Financial Aid (WASFA) to apply for financial aid. Your financial aid application should be submitted before January 15 for priority consideration for our aid programs. You can still submit your FAFSA after January 15, but you will not be considered for priority aid.
Go to https://studentaid.gov/ to apply for a Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID from the U.S. Department of Education. If your parents have to provide their information on your FAFSA then they should also apply for an FSA ID. After setting up your FSA ID, log in to https://studentaid.gov/ and complete and submit your FAFSA (and signature page if directed to do so). File your FAFSA as soon as possible, noting the University of Washington - school code 003798 on your application. This school code is used for all UW campuses.
To qualify for financial aid, you must be admitted to the UW at our Seattle, Bothell or Tacoma campuses in an approved degree or certificate program (most non-matriculated students are not eligible for student aid) and meet minimum enrollment requirements. For priority financial aid consideration, you must meet our priority deadline of January 15, even if you don’t know whether you will be accepted for admission.
Multiple Schools
The FAFSA limits the number of schools students are able to list to 10. If you are applying to more then ten schools, you can make corrections to your FAFSA once it is processed, 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 keep those dates in mind when determining which order to add schools to your FAFSA.
Transfer Students
If you are transferring to UW Tacoma after the academic year has begun, and you have already submitted your FAFSA, log back into your FAFSA and add the UW school code 003798 (same code for all UW campuses) to your list of schools.
Student Aid Report (SAR) from the Federal Processor (FAFSA Applicants)
You will receive an email to access the Student Aid Report (SAR) information after your FAFSA is finished processing. You must make any corrections requested on the SAR. You should correct any estimated income data when actual data is available. In addition, correct your name (which should match the name the Social Security Administration has for you), social security number, and date of birth if inaccurate.
Award Notices
We begin sending award notifications in the spring and continue through the summer. Generally, this will be sent to you electronically, so please regularly check your UW email and MyUW account. The award notice shows you the types and amounts of aid you are eligible to receive. Your financial aid awards 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 awards 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.
