The University of Washington is an excellent public University located in Seattle, Washington. Seattle is famous for being one of the cities where many technology companies are located. Because of that, students in the University of Washington can find internships at well-known companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. If you are interested in attending this phenomenal university, you need your finances figured out. This article will help you to do that by covering University of Washington scholarships and financial aid.
Cost of Attendance
As a state university, cost of attendance varies greatly depending on your residency. If you are in-state student, you will pay significantly less than out-of-state students.
Per year, the tuition fee is over $11,000 and room and board is over $4,000. Counting the additional expenses, the total cost of attendance is over $19,000 for in-state students. If you are out-of-state, you have to add $36,000 to that total, making your cost of attendance over $44,000 a year.
I highly recommend you to consider state universities in your state or private universities in general if you are not from the state of Washington. Universities in your state will have cheaper tuition for you, and private universities charge the same for both in-state and out-of-state students so you will have a better chance of getting scholarships that cover most of the cost of attendance.
However, if you are an excellent student, you can get excellent University of Washington scholarships. So, let’s talk about that.
University of Washington Scholarships
To cover these costs, scholarships are offered to both in-state and out-of-state students. Two major types of scholarships are scholarships for first-year students and transfer students. These scholarships are awarded primarily on merit, but some are awarded based on need. So, let’s take a look at these scholarships and the eligibility criteria.
1. First Year Students Scholarships
A. Presidential Scholarships
This award is $10,000 a year scholarship and is given to in-state students with academic excellence and service records. For in-state students, if you do receive this scholarship, this covers most of your tuition at the University of Washington. If you do receive this scholarship, you should definitely consider attending because you will have most of your costs covered.
There’s no separate application to apply for this scholarship. You will be automatically considered. Winners will be selected based on their application.
B. Purple and Gold Scholarship
This scholarship is for out-of-state students who have great academic achievements. The amount varies but it is renewable for all four years if certain criteria are met. Like the Presidential scholarship, you will be automatically considered for this scholarship.
C. UW Diversity Scholarship
This scholarship is a four-year $10,000 per year award to in-state, prospective University of Washington students who come from minority backgrounds. This award is to increase diversity and increase the enrollment of students whose communities are not very well represented in universities under the current education system. Like the others, there’s no separate application for this scholarship.
2. Transfer Students Scholarships
Now, let’s take a look at transfer students scholarship. To be eligible for most of these, you need to be a resident in Washington and also transfer from a community college. If you are interested, visit the scholarship page.
How to Apply for Scholarships
As you can see above, you do not have to submit any separate application to apply. However, some of these scholarships require you to submit FAFSA so that they can see your financial need. This is required for getting grants, so you might as well get that done.
Grants
More than $210 million are awarded to University of Washington students as grants. These are money that is awarded primarily based on merit, these do not require you to pay back. So, let’s look at what types of grants are available for you.
Federal Grants are the largest type and include Pell Grant. Then, you have state aid that is awarded by your state. Finally, there’s the University of Washington grants which is from the funds of the university.
The UW Grant Page has detailed information and includes specific types of grants available. Make sure to check this page if you are interested in grants!
How to Apply for Grants
To apply for grants, you need to fill out the FAFSA, which becomes available on October 1. I highly recommend you to fill this form out as soon as possible!
Work Study
Another type of financial aid available at University of Washington is the work study. You can work on-campus if you receive this as your financial aid package. If not, there are still ways that you can work on-campus such as helping your professors research, especially during summer.
If you do not get selected for a work-study, you can work off-campus or work online to help pay for the tuition fees. I highly recommend doing so to earn extra side income.
Financial Aid Application Deadlines
So, when should you fill out the FAFSA by? The priority deadline is January 15 for financial aid. This means that you need to file FAFSA by this date to be considered for most scholarships. It is possible that you can file later than this date, but keep in mind that University of Washington scholarships might be depleted.
Loans
If you do not get enough scholarships and grants to cover the cost of attendance with your family’s money, you can take out loans. There are multiple types of loans, but it is recommended that you take out federal loans first. These are low interest and subsidized, meaning that the interest accrues a few months after you graduate.
You should be very careful when you take out private loans. This will accumulate quickly because of its relatively high-interest rates. If you have any questions about loans, visit the Loans Page.
I hope that this article on University of Washington Scholarships, need-based aid, and financial aid was helpful. If you are currently living in the state of Washington, I recommend you to go to the Washington State Scholarships Category. Also, go to the Authority Scholarships Site to learn more about scholarships in different states.
