Financial Aid comes in several forms: Grants and Scholarships that are not required to be repaid, loans that must be repaid, or federal work-study awards which allow students to earn a paycheck while attending college. It's important to know the difference between the types of financial aid to better prepare you before you apply. To learn more about federal grants, scholarships, loans, and work-study visit https://studentaid.gov/h/understand-aid/how-aid-works.

Apply for Financial Aid Early

To apply for financial aid each academic year, complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) using the University of Washington's federal code 003798. The University of Washington has one federal school code for all three campuses (UW Seattle, Bothell, and Tacoma).

The 2025-26 FAFSA will be available on December 31st. You will be considered for federal and state grants (if eligible), loans, and work-study awards. The FAFSA/WASFA priority filing date has been extended to February 28, 2025 due to changes to the FAFSA application for 2024-25. For more details, please see this announcement. The University of Washington will use your financial aid application to determine your eligibility for federal, state and/or university funding. 

After we receive your financial aid application and start the review process, you may be asked for additional information and/or to review other university records during the application process. Your application may be corrected by our office based upon this information.

What's Next?

After you have completed your financial aid application with our school code, your information will be sent to our school. During this time, if you have not done so already, you should apply to the University of Washington Tacoma for Admissions. Once we receive your FAFSA application, your information will be matched to your student profile and we will be able to provide you a preliminary financial aid award in your MyUW student portal.