Financial Aid Frequently Asked Questions

• August, 2024:
  • WSU 2025-26 General Scholarship Application Opens
• December 1, 2024:
  • 2025-26 FAFSA/WASFA Opens
• January 31, 2025:
  • WSU 2025-26 General Scholarship Application Priority Date
  • 2025-26 FAFSA/WASFA Priority Date
    • Due to processing delays, FAFSA/WASFA submissions received by February 21, 2025 will still be considered to have met the January 31 priority date.
• March 31, 2025:
  • Additional Documentation Priority Date for Fall 2025
• December 1, 2025:
  • Additional Documentation Priority Date for Spring 2026

There may be cases when your financial aid offer is adjusted or recalculated to keep your aid within your established Cost of Attendance and financial need eligibility. This can happen for a variety of reasons. Most commonly:

1. Cost of Attendance

Cost of attendance is the average cost to attend WSU for one academic year. COA includes the following:

• Tuition and Fees
• Books and Supplies
• Room and Board
• Transportation
• Personal Expenses
• Loan Fees

If your Cost of Attendance changes, you will often see your aid offer change along with it. COA changes that may warrant a change to your financial aid include:

• Change of WSU Campus
  • Cost of Attendance varies across WSU campuses.
• Course Load Change
  • Dropping or adding credits can change your aid eligibility. Your initial offer assumes a full-time schedule of 12-18 credits for the fall and spring semesters, and 6 credits for summer session.
• Residency Change
  • Residency is determined at the time of formal admission to WSU on the basis of information included in the university application for admission. Residency policies are set by the State of Washington (RCW 28B.15) and applied uniformly throughout Washington’s public colleges and universities. Please contact the WSU Office of the Registrar for additional additional residency information.
• Tuition or Fee Changes

2. Student Aid Index (SAI) or Median Family Income (MFI) Changes

The amount and type of aid you’re eligible for is based on your SAI, which is calculated on your FAFSA or WASFA. (Some forms of state aid additionally use the MFI, which is calculated on the WASFA only.) If your SAI or MFI number changes after your initial offer letter, you may see your aid offer adjusted. Your SAI/MFI may change if:

• You make changes to your financial aid application.
• The university makes changes to your financial aid application (usually after receiving situational or financial information).

If you are planning to make changes to your FAFSA or WASFA, we recommend you reach out to us first to get an idea of how it might affect your aid.

3. Change in Academic Level

Your academic year is based on credits, not calendar time. Sometimes this means that your official academic level may change after your initial aid offer letter is sent.

Higher academic levels have higher loan limits, so if this happens, you may see an increased loan offer on your account.

4. Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)

Federal and state financial aid regulations require that recipients of aid make satisfactory academic progress toward the completion of their degree. If you are currently in a SAP disqualification, or are waiting on a decision regarding a submitted SAP appeal, the system will cancel out your federal aid, your state aid, or both, depending on your status. Once your SAP status changes, our team will re-offer your aid accordingly.

5. Funding Source or Award Level changes

If a funding source has changed or been eliminated since you received your offer, that award will have to be removed or modified. (Example: The 2025-26 Washington State final budget eliminated Washington Bridge Grant and updated Washington College Grant award levels, and any students packaged with Washington state aid prior to the budget passing were repackaged.)

6. Outside Financial Assistance

If our office is notified of additional outside funding or scholarships after your initial aid offer, we may have to adjust grant funding to keep your award within your calculated financial need and Cost of Attendance.

You can determine an estimate of your out-of-pocket cost with the estimated financial aid offer.  Cost of Attendance minus scholarships and grants and student loans will give you and estimated out-of-pocket cost.  You will also see what the estimated direct and indirect costs are, which might help determine if you have enough financial aid.

Maybe.

Your financial aid offer depends on multiple variables including your financial situation, the availability of funding and how much aid you have received in the past. You must fill out a financial aid application each year (FAFSA or WASFA) to be considered for state and federal aid.

Common reasons why your aid offer may look different than previous years’ include:

• Change in household size
• Change in income
• Lifetime Pell Grant or federal loan limits
• SAP disqualification
• Enrollment levels

If you have outside funding like external grants or scholarships, be sure to check the terms and conditions to see if you are eligible to renew those awards for future years.

Placeholders represent funding that you either have received or are expected to receive through a source that Student Financial Services does not traditionally disburse.

Some common examples include:

• Work Study
• Third-Party Guarantees
• Veteran’s Awards
• Graduate Assistantships

Placeholders are not a guarantee of funds

Some placeholders are estimates and do not guarantee the funding will be awarded to you. For example, a work-study placeholder represents the maximum amount of work-study funds you can earn. If you do not find a job or work enough hours, you will not receive the total amount of the placeholder.

Why are placeholders necessary?

SFS must put appropriate placeholders on accounts to ensure students are not overawarded. It is critical that you or your department alert our office of any outside financial resources you are planning to use as early as possible. If our office learns of other financial assistance after financial aid has disbursed, we may have to pull back loans or grant funding that was already sent to you.

Ten days prior to the first day of class is the soonest aid may disburse. Depending on your enrollment level, your aid may disburse later in the semester.

• Full-time students: One week prior to the start of the semester
• Half-time students: One week prior to the start of the semester OR after census has run, depending on the aid offered
• Less than half-time students: After census has run

Once aid begins disbursing, it will automatically apply to authorized university charges. By default, this includes tuition and mandatory fees. To authorize your financial aid to cover additional charges on your WSU account (sports pass, yearbook, etc.), log into myWSU and select:

“Account Services & 1080-T” → “View Student Permissions” → “Grant Permissions” → “TITLE IV – Permission to apply aid to all charges”

We typically generate your financial aid offer letter assuming you will be enrolled full time. On the tenth day of term, we run a process called census to get a more accurate account of student enrollment. This “snapshot” can affect your financial aid disbursement in the following ways:

• Full-time students who remain at full-time enrollment will not see any change.
• Part-time students who remain part-time will have their aid adjusted accordingly and the aid will disburse.
• Students who were at full-time enrollment pre-census and part-time enrollment at census will have these awards reduced. If this happens to you, it means you may have to pay back some of your financial aid to WSU.

You will receive a financial aid refund.

You cannot be awarded aid that exceeds your cost of attendance. However, your cost of attendance considers factors outside of WSU direct costs and is therefore significantly higher than what you will see charged to your account. This means it is possible to be awarded more money in financial aid than what you need to pay tuition and mandatory fees.

When your financial aid is greater than your WSU direct costs, the aid will first apply directly to all your WSU charges and then any remaining aid will be sent to you as a refund.

If additional charges post to your account after you receive your refund, you are responsible for paying the amount remaining on your WSU account.

Refunds will be directly deposited to your bank account if you have direct deposit set up in myWSU. Otherwise, a physical check will arrive at the address listed on your student account.

No.

Financial aid for a semester can only be used to pay charges for that same semester. For example, spring aid cannot be used to pay for fall fees. Your financial aid is applied to your charges in this order:

1. Tuition and fees for the current semester
2. On-campus housing and meal plan charges
3.  Any charges that you have authorized financial aid to pay for (sports pass, placement testing, parking tickets, etc).

If there is a balance remaining after the above charges are paid, you will receive a refund via check or direct deposit. You can use the refund to pay other expenses like late fees, off-campus housing, books, parking, Health Center charges, health insurance, or tuition at other schools.

There are several reasons your aid may be delayed. 

1. Too early in the year
   • Aid disbursement does not begin until the week before classes start. Keep this in mind if you have modular courses that start at later than other classes.
2. Incomplete To-Do Items
   • Check your myWSU To-Do List: if we need something from you, this is where you’ll see it
   • Log into myWSU and select “Tasks” for further details
3. Unaccepted Aid
   • Some aid, like loans, does not disburse unless you manually accept it through your myWSU account. See “How Do I Accept My Loans” for more details.
4. Incomplete Entrance Counseling and/or Loan Agreement (Master Promissory Note)
   • First Time Borrowers — Complete Direct Loan Entrance Counseling & Master Promissory Note
   • Complete Entrance Counseling and Loan agreement at studentaid.gov
5. Not enrolled in enough credits
   • If your aid is not disbursing check your enrollment
   • You must be in at least half time enrollment (6+ undergraduates; 5+ graduates) for loans to disburse
6. Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) issues

By logging into your myWSU account.

1. On the Student Homepage, Click “Financial Aid”
2. Award for year will automatically show in “Award Summary”
3. Click “Accept/Decline”
4. Click “Edit” button above list of awards
5. Accepted funding is for two semesters, or the full academic year, and will be split accordingly.
6. Click “Submit”

You haven’t authorized financial aid to pay all charges.

Financial aid automatically pays for tuition, mandatory fees, housing, and dining charges. Additional fees like sports passes or yearbook fees will not be covered by your aid and you will instead receive a refund. You can authorize your financial aid to cover all charges on your account by doing the following:

1. Login to myWSU
2. Click “Account Services & 1098-T”
3. Click “View Student Permissions”
4. Click “Grant Permissions”
5. Select “TITLE IV – Permission to apply aid to all charges”
6. Click “Next”
7. Read the agreement, then Click “Yes, I have read the agreement”
8. Click “Submit”

When your awarded aid exceeds the charges on your account, you will receive a financial aid refund for the difference. This money will arrive directly in your bank account if you have direct deposit set up. Without direct deposit, you will receive a paper check mailed to your address.

Direct deposit can take 3-5 business days. Mailed checks may take longer. Contact the Bursar’s Office with questions about the status of your refund.

How to set up direct deposit in myWSU

Some classes may have additional fees not included in the standard mandatory fees listed in the cost of attendance table. Examples include fees for labs or digital materials unique to the class. These fees are budgeted under “Books & Supplies”.

If your course load includes digital course fees outside of the budgeted average, you may look into filing a revision request for an increased cost of attendance budget.

The Services and Activities Fee (S&A Fee) is included in tuition rates, but may show up as a separate charge on your account.

S&A fees support nonacademic student activities, programs, and projects. This fee is used to enrich the student experience through funding for student government, entertainment, student organizations, speakers, facilities, and recreation. All campuses pay S&A fees; rates vary by campus.

Please note:

• S&A fees may be slightly higher for students with intercampus enrollment.
• Most students pay S&A fees once per semester; however, students enrolled in the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine pay S&A fees each term they are enrolled.

Mandatory fees cannot usually be waived. In rare cases, you may be able to have some mandatory fees waived if you are not actually attending your registered campus (examples include off-campus student teaching or internships).

Our office does not waive fees. Please speak with your advisor if you have questions about fees on your account and they will reach out to the Bursar’s office if appropriate.

Under some circumstances, you may be able to file a revision request for an increased financial aid budget. A revision request allows us to increase your cost of attendance and possibly award you more financial aid based on that higher cost figure. This additional aid is typically offered as loans, and you must have loan eligibility to receive them.

Tuition and mandatory fees are handled through the Bursar’s office. Payments are due on the first day of classes and late fees begin to accrue the second week of classes. 

The Bursar’s office does offer payment plans for current charges that will split your due balance over the term. 

The Bursar’s office bills tuition and mandatory fees on a per term basis. However, the financial aid offer you receive from our office represents your potential aid for the whole year.

GET:

Access the GET website to request the funds. WSU will receive notification of the request and act accordingly.

529 Plans:

Many 529 College Savings plans now have a digital distribution option (electronic ACH) which saves time and improves transparency with real-time payment tracking. When requesting a withdrawal from your plan, check with your plan administrator to see if a digital distribution option is available

Please Note: The Bursar’s Office will only accept payments for tuition and fees for the current academic semester. Due to banking requirements, funds submitted in excess of outstanding balances may result in the payment being rejected and returned to the payer in its entirety. Excess payments may be rejected even if the extra funds are intended for use for books, off-campus housing, or other living expenses.

For 529 payments sent by paper check please refer to “Pay by Check using either: In person Delivery or U.S. Postal Service” on the Bursar’s website.

The FAFSA is available to the following students:

• United States Citizen
• Permanent Resident with Registration Card I-551
• Non-citizen with an I-94 entry/exit record showing one of the following:
  • Refugee
  • Asylum granted
  • On parole for one year
  • Cuban-Haitian

If you do not meet the requirements to fill out a FAFSA, you may be eligible to fill out a WASFA, instead.

Yes.

If you made a mistake on your FAFSA or forgot to include a school code, you may submit a correction on the Studentaid.gov.

If you filled out your FAFSA correctly but need to appeal for special circumstances or a revision, you may do so through our office.

The FAFSA uses tax information from two years ago to provide a “snapshot” of your household income and finances. Using data from two years ago guarantees that the tax information has been fully processed by the IRS.

If your current financial situation is significantly different from what your prior-prior year tax data shows, you may submit a special circumstances appeal after you have completed the FAFSA and received an official financial aid offer.

Yes.

Institutions are prohibited from using FTI for any purpose other than the application, award, and administration of financial aid to the applicant. This prohibition includes research purposes. WSU may use the FAFSA data, excluding FTI, for research that does not release any individually identifiable information on any applicant, to promote college attendance, persistence, and completion.

The following is considered confidential federal tax information:

You can submit a Consent to Release Federal Tax Information form to authorize consent for Student Financial Services to disclose federal tax information from your FAFSA to any third parties you identify.

It depends.

The third-party authorization in myWSU only allows you to grant a third party access to your educational records to other entities besides themselves, such as a parent, spouse, etc. Education records are defined as academic and personal records that are directly related to you, including:

• Scholastic records
• Disciplinary records
• Financial records

The ‘financial’ does not carry over to federal tax information (FTI), as FTI confidentiality is protected separately in accordance with the confidentiality protections of the IRC and subject to Section 6103(l)(13) of the IRC requirements as well as the use restrictions of FTI under Section 483 of HEA as amended by the FAFSA Simplification Act. A Consent to Release Federal Tax Information is required before FTI will be discussed or released to any parties other than those who were contributors on the FAFSA.

You and any of your contributor(s) must provide this information in order for the Department to
determine if you are eligible for federal student aid and which type (e.g., Pell Grant, subsidized
or unsubsidized loans) and amount of aid you might be eligible to receive. In addition, many
states and colleges use your FAFSA information to determine your eligibility for state and school
aid.

The WASFA is available to students who:

• Do not qualify for federal funding under the FAFSA
  • This includes undocumented students who do not have social security numbers.
• Are Washington State Residents

If you qualify under Washington State Bill HB-1079 or DACA, you should complete the Washington Application for State Financial Aid (WASFA).

Washington student residency requirements differ depending on immigration status, military status and more. Determine your residency status on WSU’s Student Residency Page.

Fill out the correct FAFSA/WASFA

You will need to fill out the same aid application as students who started in the fall. See the below chart for examples:

Transferring from another institution

If you attended another university or college in the fall, you will not need to fill out a new FAFSA or WASFA. These applications follow you from school to school. Be aware that aggregate limits for federal and state aid will apply and your initial financial aid offer from WSU may be adjusted as a result.

Important spring dates

Spring semester follows the same schedule as the fall.

Full WSU Academic Calendar

Find exact deadlines and dates for enrollment, classes, WSU holidays and more.

Part-Time Enrollment Definition

Undergraduate Students: For financial aid purposes, enrollment in fewer than 12 credits per semester is part time. If you are enrolled part time, your grants will be prorated to match your credit load.

Graduate Students: For financial aid purposes, enrollment in fewer than 10 credits per semester is part time.

These credit levels apply to fall and spring semesters. Please see “Does financial aid cover summer classes” below for information on credit requirements for summer session.

Available Part-Time Aid

Loans and grants are available to part-time students. Loans require half-time enrollment (6 credits for undergraduate students and 5 credits for graduate students). Some grants will be pro-rated for lower amounts, including the following:

• Washington College Grant
• Pell Grant
• College Bound Promise

Additionally some scholarships may require full-time enrollment. Check your scholarships’ eligibility requirements before you enroll part time.

Dropping down to half-time enrollment?

See our census and SAP sections to see how changing enrollment levels can affect your financial aid.

Sometimes.

As a Title IV-eligible school, WSU may enter into consortium agreements with other Title IV-eligible institutions. If a course necessary for your degree is unavailable at WSU, you may be able to request a consortium agreement and use your financial aid to attend multiple schools at once.

Yes!

Certified post-baccalaureate students may receive some forms of financial aid. You are automatically a post-bacc student when you already have one bachelor’s degree and are attending to gain a second bachelor’s degree or post-bachelor’s certificate. However, only certified post-bacc students are eligible for financial aid.

To certify you must speak with your academic program or department. Your academic counselor must fill out paperwork with the Registrar’s Office to have you certified.

Certified post-bacc students may receive:

• Federal loans
  • Undergraduate aggregate borrowing limits apply. Post-bacc students may only apply for additional loans after the original loans are repaid in part or in full. See how close you are to your loan limits by logging into studentaid.gov.
    • As defined on the Second Degree Verification Form (5B): Students certified as having fewer than 60 credits towards their second degree are classified as sophomores for the purpose of awarding Direct loans. For students certified at 60 credits or more, they are classified as juniors or seniors.
  • Parent PLUS Loans are only eligible to students who are classified by the Department of Education as a dependent student.
• Work-study funds
• Private education loans
• Scholarships

Please note that undergraduate, need-based aid such as grants is not available to post-bacc students.

You may be eligible for increased loans (Direct, PLUS or private) for winter session classes depending on the financial aid already awarded to you for the academic year. Winter session aid is considered part of the fall semester. There is no aid specific to winter session. 

Yes!

Summer is the third and final semester of the WSU academic year. If you have any remaining loans, you can use them for summer classes. For grant-eligible students, you may qualify to receive grant funding if you are enrolled in at least 3 credits.

Summer aid requires you have a FAFSA on file for the current academic year. (Example: Summer 2025 requires you complete the 2024-25 FAFSA.) The deadline for filing your FAFSA or WASFA is June 20.

Enrollment Requirements

Undergraduate: 3 credits

Graduate/MBA: 3 credits

If you plan on enrolling in fewer credits than required, please contact our office to see what your aid options are.

Which types of aid are available?

Loans and grants are available during summer session, based on your eligibility. Scholarships are not usually awarded during the summer term and those that are may have credit-limit requirements.

Available summer grant funding includes:

1. Federal Pell Grant
   • Minimum 1 credit (please reach out to our office as students do not automatically receive aid at fewer than 3 credits)
2. Washington College Grant
   • Minimum 3 credits
3. College Bound Promise
   • Minimum 3 credits
4. WSU Institutional Grant
   • If funds are available, you may also qualify for institutional grants depending on your Student Aid Index (SAI) as determined by the FAFSA.
   • Institutional Grant is only available to students who have registered for all summer classes by 5/1.

Note: All grant funds award during summer session count towards your lifetime limits for those grants.

Summer Dates and Deadlines

To receive summer aid, you must have a current year FAFSA on file by July 17. (Example: Summer 2026 requires a 2025-26 FAFSA.)

Summer financial aid will disburse either five days prior to your first class or on your first day of class, depending on whether you are registered for classes during the first summer session.

All students, regardless of their residency, pay in-state tuition. Use our Cost of Attendance tables to find your full estimated expenses for summer semester.

Summer Per-Credit Tuition

Undergraduate: $595.05
Graduate: $682.50

Summer Mandatory Fees by Campus

Questions about summer session?

Dropping classes or withdrawing can affect your financial aid. Dropping below minimum credit requirements for your program means your aid could be reduced or cancelled.

Summer classes have varying start dates which can affect how your aid is calculated. We advise enrolling in all your summer classes as early as possible to ensure you receive the maximum amount of aid you are eligible for.

Just like fall and spring semester, you must file an online Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) appeal to be considered for financial aid if you are currently SAP disqualified.

SAP disqualifications may come in after summer classes have started and summer aid has disbursed. If you do not successfully appeal your SAP disqualification, any disbursed summer aid will be cancelled and you will have a bill in your myWSU account for your summer courses.

SAP appeals much be submitted before the last week of the first summer session, not including intersession. If you are SAP disqualified, a SAP appeal form will be available to you through your myWSU account.

Yes!

In most cases, you can use your existing financial aid award to pay for study abroad. You may also be able to get an adjustment to your award to account for additional expenses. If your financial aid offer does not cover all your study abroad expenses, you may want to consider a private education loan.

You are responsible for paying the Global Learning program directly. The university does not pay the program directly under any circumstances.

If financial aid is used for the term abroad and if you have set up direct deposit through myWSU, the funds will deliver to your account in the same way as “normal” WSU attendance. You will then pay all associated costs.

Global Learning or Student Financial Services.

Make sure you have filled out the student section of any relevant forms. If you turn the form into Global Learning, they will then forward it to Student Financial Services along with the Program Expense Form. Our office will then complete the form and return it to you to return to your program.

Government regulations do not allow WSU to disburse funds early to cover your program deposits, airline tickets, or other necessary fees. If your program is asking for money sooner than 10 days before classes start, you will need to:

• Consider a short-term loan from friends or family. You will be able to repay them with your financial aid disbursement.
• Ask your program to defer some or all of your payment until aid disburses. In order to do this, programs must know in advance how much financial aid will be received and when. 

To ensure you continue to receive all the financial aid you are eligible for, be sure to:

• Complete your aid applications in advance
  • If you plan to return to WSU after studying abroad, be sure to complete the FAFSA application and general scholarship application before the WSU priority deadline. Many students proactively do this before their departure date in order to receive as much aid as possible instead of dealing with this upon their return and possibly missing out on time-sensitive aid.
• Check myWSU regularly while abroad
  • While away, be sure to regularly check myWSU and respond to any requests for information and/or checklist items. Additionally, it is recommended to check your WSU email for information, reminder, or requests from our office and other WSU departments.
• Get your transcripts in on time
  • Both federal and state governments require financial aid departments to monitor the SAP progress of each student receiving financial aid. Therefore, it is imperative for WSU to receive the transcript from your host institution as soon as possible to determine your SAP status for the following term.
  • You are responsible for ensuring that the host institution has the correct mailing address for WSU’s Global Learning Office and the required documents are sent there. If you study abroad for more than one term, be aware that federal SAP requirements can be waived for one term.

Set up direct deposit.

If you don’t already have direct deposit set up in your myWSU account, do so before you study abroad! Otherwise any refund will be mailed as a check to your permanent address and may not be immediately accessible to you while you are out of the country.

Set up third-party access.

Give third-party access to a trustworthy individual so they may access your myWSU account while you are away to assist with any issues that arise.

Contact the Global Learning office.

If your study abroad plans change, immediately contact the Global Learning Office who will then inform our office. We will then readjust your budget and financial aid award to reflect the cost of attendance for WSU, and not the cost of attendance for your study abroad program. Most of the time, this will result in a decrease of your cost of attendance and a decrease in your award.

Yes!

Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship

The U.S. Department of State’s Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship is a grant program that enables students of limited financial means to study or intern abroad.

The Gilman Scholarship Program is open to U.S. citizen undergraduate students who are receiving Federal Pell Grant funding to participate in study and intern abroad programs worldwide.

Boren Scholarships

Boren Scholarships, an initiative of the National Security Education Program, provide unique funding opportunities for U.S. undergraduate students to study less commonly taught languages in world regions critical to U.S. interests, and underrepresented in study abroad, including Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East. The countries of Western Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are excluded.

Boren Scholars represent a vital pool of highly motivated individuals who wish to work in the federal national security arena. In exchange for funding, Boren Scholars commit to working in the federal government for at least one year after graduation.

GoAbroad.com

GoAbroad has numerous scholarship resources for students that want to study abroad. Visit their website for some basic questions to consider before going abroad and for a directory of scholarship opportunities.

Diversity Abroad

The Diversity Abroad website can connect you to study abroad and global programs, scholarships, graduate and career opportunities. Use the “Match Me” tool to find scholarship opportunities that match with your interests.

WSU International Programs Scholarship Resources

WSU International Programs offers many scholarship resources for students who are planning to study abroad.

Maximum Time Frame (MTF) refers to the maximum amount of attempted credits you are allowed within your program, as it pertains to financial aid.

State SAP

Students must complete their degree within 150% of their degree required credit hours. This is based on an average undergraduate degree program of 150 credit hours.

• Attempted 130 – 149 credit hours = Warning
• Attempted 150⁺credit hours = Disqualification

Federal SAP

Students must complete their degree within 150% of their degree required credit hours. This is based on an average undergraduate degree program of 150 credit hours.

• No Warning
• Attempted 180+ credit hours = Disqualification

Possibly.

All financial aid is awarded to you under the assumption that you will attend school for the entire term. When you withdraw or drop some of your classes, you may no longer be eligible for the full amount of funds that you originally were scheduled to receive. Cancelling enrollment or dropping classes may impact you academic progress.

Dropping classes after census

Census runs on the tenth day of classes and provides a snapshot of current student enrollment. This enrollment is used to adjust financial aid for the semester. If you drop classes after census, your financial aid may need to be adjusted, depending on several factors:

• If you are withdrawing for the semester: a return of financial aid is done under our Return of Title IV Policy, where a percentage of aid may be returned depending on how much aid you have earned.
• If you are in classes and your aid has not disbursed: your aid will be adjusted based on enrollment level once whatever is holding the disbursal of aid is resolved.
• If you are in classes, aid has disbursed, and your class has already started: the census snapshot stands and no aid will be adjusted.
• If you are dropping a class that starts in the future: your aid will be adjusted based on enrollment level as financial aid has not been earned for that class. If there is no change in enrollment level, then aid will not be adjusted.

In addition to completing the minimum credit hours, you must complete at least 67% of your overall attempted credits, which includes any additional credits transferred to WSU.

• If you drop below the cumulative 67% completion rate, you will be placed on warning status. You will have one term to bring your completion rate above 67% before losing your aid eligibility.
• If you remain below the cumulative 67% completion rate at the end of the warning term, you will be disqualified from receiving aid.

At any point you become disqualified to receive aid, you may regain eligibility by successfully appealing or completing a term on your own and in addition are no longer in disqualification status.

If, as a recipient of federal financial aid funds, you withdraw from school before the 60% point of the term, the amount of the financial aid you earned must be determined. All unearned aid, or a portion of the unearned aid, must be returned (cancelled from your account). The earned and unearned aid is determined by a daily prorated ratio. Basically, if you cancelled enrollment at the 20% point of the term, you earned 20% of the assistance you were originally scheduled to receive. Eighty percent of the amount of unearned federal aid or a portion of the 80% of unearned aid will be returned (cancelled from your account). Once you have completed more than 60% of the term, you have earned all the federal assistance you were scheduled to receive.

If enrollment is cancelled on or prior to Census (10th day of classes) all state aid will be canceled for the term. If student withdraws after census but prior to the 60 percent date, the calculation for each individual award is as follows:

1. The state grant award is to be multiplied by the unearned aid percentage; this gives the “unearned amount”.
2. The unearned amount is then reduced by 50 percent (grant protection).
3. The remaining calculation is the repayment due (amount to reduce).

Institutional Grant and Cougar Commitment Grant are adjusted based on the federal return of title IV calculation.

Contact Student Financial Services to determine how your scholarship(s) will be cancelled.

If a charge is created after your account has been adjusted, WSU will send you a bill. If a credit results after all adjustments are made, your account will be credited for the difference.

WSU will send a direct deposit for this amount to your bank account (if set up) or a check to your campus/mailing address.

You may be eligible for what is called a “post withdrawal disbursement.” This occurs if you were eligible to receive Federal Aid that was not disbursed to you prior to your withdrawal. If you are eligible for a post withdrawal, Federal Grant funds, those funds you were eligible for will be credited to your account. If you are eligible for a post withdrawal concerning your federal loans, you will have the opportunity to accept or reject any portion of them.

For unofficial withdrawals, the withdrawal date is assumed to be the midpoint of the term. A school must process aid adjustments for unofficial withdrawals within 45 calendar days from the earlier of:

1. The end of the payment period or period of enrollment
2. The end of the academic year; or,
3. The end of your educational program [34CFR 668.22(j)(2)]

At the end of each term, the SAP committee will identify students (graduate or undergraduate) who did not successfully complete any courses. Our office will attempt to contact you if you did not earn a passing grade in any course by mail and through myWSU will ask for verification from an instructor of yours for the last date of attendance at an academically related activity.

Proof of academically related activities may include:

• Examinations
• Quizzes
• Tutorials
• Computer-assisted instruction
• Academic advising or counseling
• Academic conferences
• Completing an academic assignment, paper, or project
• Attending a study group required by the institution where attendance is taken

If no proof of attendance at an academically related activity is received, 100% of your aid will be canceled. If proof of attendance at an academically related activity is received with a date prior to the 60% point of the term, an unofficial withdrawal date at 50% point of the term will be assumed for you.

In addition to federal aid adjustments for unofficial withdrawals, 50% of Washington College Grant and/or Educational Grants will be cancelled.

Warning status occurs if you fail to complete the minimum number of hours required, based on your individual enrollment. You are allowed one warning term to complete the minimum credit hours that are needed in order to get back into compliance.

Denial of your financial aid funds will occur if you fail to complete the minimum number of hours required during a warning term or if you fail to complete at least 50% of the minimum number of hours required based on individual enrollment. If you are attempting 5 credits or fewer, you will be in denial if you fail to complete ALL of these credits by the end of the term.

If you are placed in a denial status, you must successfully complete a SAP Appeal to continue receiving your aid.

WSU does not currently have a Census date for Summer Session. See the “Nonstandard Terms and Enrollment” section of the FAQ for more information about aid disbursement and adjustments during summer semester.

Late credits may be taken into account and some of your aid may be re-awarded to your account. Our office reviews student accounts with late credits periodically and can adjust federal student loans in this way, but not Pell or state grants. 

Grants may only be reevaluated in the event that there was an administrator error or situation outside of the student’s control that caused the late enrollment. Please contact our office to have your specific situation assessed.

No.

Scholarships are not part of regular census processing, but they may be affected independently by your enrollment levels.

If you’ll be enrolled less than full time for a semester in which you have a scholarship, please work with your donor/department to determine if you’ll still be eligible to receive those funds.

You may still be eligible for certain grants based on your situation.

However, you will not be eligible for any federal student loans, and any disbursed loans must be returned to the Department of Education. The return of loan funds may create an outstanding balance on your account, but also reduces the outstanding principal balance of the student loan.

There are two main reasons why credits may be excluded from counting toward your aid eligibility:

1. Graduate-level credits are not counted for undergraduate federal financial aid eligibility. An exception is made for cases where your academic advisor has contacted us to verify that those graduate-level credits will be counting towards your undergraduate degree.
2. Federal aid may only be used to repeat a course one time after a passing grade (D- or better) is received. We are unable to make exceptions even in cases where the grade earned does not meet departmental requirements.

The credit minimum for loans are:

• Undergraduates: 6 credits
• Graduate/Professional/EMBA students: 5 credits
• MBA students: 3 credits

Enrollment below these levels will result in loan offers being cancelled from your account. If you drop below the loan credit requirement after your loans have disbursed, you may owe a bill to the university for the loan amounts you took out. Cancelled or “paid back” loans under these circumstances do not count towards your lifetime eligibility for federal loans.

Loan Acceptance Isn’t Open

Fall semester financial aid offers are typically sent out before federal loans are officially open for acceptance, which usually occurs in July. These aid offers are meant to give you an idea of how much aid you will likely have once classes begin and will not disburse until term starts.

You will receive an email from Student Financial Services when your loans are available for you to accept.

Yes

You may accept your loans at any point, up until the final weeks of the semester*. If your loan offer no longer appears on your financial aid tab in myWSU, simply fill out a Loan Action Request and a member of Student Financial Services will re-offer your loans.

*You may not accept or request reoffers of loans from previous semesters.

You Haven’t Completed Entrance Counseling

Entrance counseling is mandatory. Completing this short training ensures you are fully aware of your rights and responsibilities as a federal loan borrower.

You Haven’t Completed Your Master Promissory Note

The Master Promissory Note (MPN) is also mandatory for loan disbursement. The MPN is a legal contract in which you promise to repay your loan(s) and any accrued interest and fees to the U.S. Department of Education.

You may use the same MPN for multiple loans for a period of up to 10 years in most cases.

Classes Have Not Started

Aid will not disburse until 7 days prior to the start of your classes. This is the case even if your classes begin after the first day of the term.

You Are Over-Awarded

You may only receive financial aid up to your Cost of Attendance. If other financial aid (grants, scholarships, etc.) already cover or exceed your Cost of Attendance, your loans will not disburse. There is no alert that informs you if you are over-awarded, so please contact Student Financial Services if you are unsure whether you are in an over-award status.

Your Credit Has Not Been Approved

Only Parent PLUS and Graduate PLUS loans require credit checks. If you tried to accept this type of loan but have not received funds, your credit check may have been denied. If do not qualify by yourself you may have a co-signer or endorser accept the loan on your behalf.

Please ensure you lift any credit freezes from all three credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax) before applying for a PLUS loan. Allow one week for the credit check to run before replacing a credit freeze.

The Budget Control Act of 2011 imposed sequestration for all direct student loans (subsidized, unsubsidized, and PLUS). This requires an adjustment to be made on the origination fee percentage on October 1 of each year, aligning with the federal fiscal year.

The lifetime aid summary tool is available for current students and alumni of WSU. The lifetime aid summary will allow you to view your current loan amounts, your federal loan limit, remaining loan eligibility, estimated monthly payments and your current Pell usage.

How to view your Lifetime Aid Summary

1. Log into myWSU
2. Click on the financial aid tile
3. Click on the drop-down menu on the right side of display
4. Click on “Lifetime Aid Summary”

Note: In order to generate your lifetime aid summary, you must select a Federal Aid Year in which you received financial aid.

Most student loans are subject to origination fees, where a percentage of the loan is automatically removed for processing costs. You can visit the Federal Student Aid website for current origination fee percentages and more information.

Loan origination fees are added to your Cost of Attendance if your financial aid offer includes direct student loans.

The credit minimum for loans are:

• Undergraduates: 6 credits
• Graduate/Professional/EMBA students: 5 credits
• MBA students: 3 credits

Enrollment below these levels will result in loan offers being cancelled from your account. If you drop below the loan credit requirement after your loans have disbursed, you may owe a bill to the university for the loan amounts you took out. Cancelled or “paid back” loans under these circumstances do not count towards your lifetime eligibility for federal loans.

• Sign in to myWSU
• Click on “My Student Center” in the middle of the screen
• Click on “View Financial Aid” under finances
• Click on the aid year
• Click on Accept/Decline Awards
• Select the loans you wish to accept (or click ‘accept all’)
• Enter the amount you wish to accept
• Click submit, and then click yes to accept

You may also accept your loans through Student Financial Services in-person (Pullman campus) or over the phone.

The timeline for a credit decision may vary based on the time of year your loan is accepted, typically 3-5 business days. You will receive an email notification from the U.S. Department of Education and our office as to whether the loan was approved or not.

Credit decisions are valid for 180 calendar days (approximately 6 months).

If after 5 business days you have not received a credit decision, there may be a credit freeze with one or more of the credit bureaus.

You must lift your credit freeze from all three credit bureaus for a period of at least one week before a credit check can be run.

You can lift applicable credit freezes by contacting each agency independently. Please contact Student Financial Services if removing a credit freeze after accepting your loan.

All students denied a Direct Graduate PLUS Loan because of adverse credit information have certain rights and options. You may take the following actions to see if the loan may still be approved:

• Appeal the credit decision 
  • Appeal directly to Federal Direct Loan (FDL) Program. They can be contacted at 1-800-557-7394 (Option 3) for more information.
• Add an endorser (co-signer) to the loan
  • Obtain a credit-worthy endorser (co-signer). An endorser is someone who does not have an adverse credit history and agrees to repay the loan if the student is unable to repay it.
  • An Endorser Addendum must be completed by the loan co-signer, and submitted to the Federal Direct Loan program for processing. For instructions, please contact Direct Loan Applicant Services at 1-800-557-7394 (Option 3). Even with an endorser, you must still complete the MPN each year.

If you are the endorser:

1. Create an FSA ID and sign in at studentaid.gov
2. Click on “Endorse a Direct Plus Loan”
3. Enter the loan ID
   • The loan ID can be found in the denial email received from the Department of Education. The ID starts with the student’s SSN followed by “P17G0380000” and ending in the number of PLUS Loans sent to Department of Education. If a student has been offered multiple PLUS Loans, the Loan ID will end in “1”, “2”, etc. (example: SSNP17G03800002).

If you are the borrower (student):

1. Go to studentaid.gov
2. Log into the site with your FSA ID
3. Click on “Complete PLUS Counseling”
4. Click on “PLUS Counseling” (if in doubt, see the blue highlighted description to the right of your selection)

The Department of Education will send our office the updated file once the PLUS Counseling has been completed. It can take the university a few days to receive the file and get it updated in myWSU.

The credit minimum for loans are:

• Undergraduates: 6 credits
• Graduate/Professional/EMBA students: 5 credits
• MBA students: 3 credits

Enrollment below these levels will result in loan offers being cancelled from your account. If you drop below the loan credit requirement after your loans have disbursed, you may owe a bill to the university for the loan amounts you took out. Cancelled or “paid back” loans under these circumstances do not count towards your lifetime eligibility for federal loans.

The parent PLUS loan application is available to your:

• Biological parents
• Legal adoptive parents
• Stepparents

Grandparents, legal guardians and other relatives are not eligible for the parent PLUS loan application unless they have legally adopted you.

The parent who applies for the parent PLUS loan does not have to be the same parent listed on your FAFSA.

Application is a three-step process:

• Grant parent borrower myWSU access
• Parent completes WSU loan application
  • PLUS loan applications open mid-summer each year
• Parent completes Master Promissory Note

The timeline for a credit decision may vary based on the time of year when your parent PLUS Loan application is being completed, typically 3-5 business days. Your parent will receive an email notification from the U.S. Department of Education and our office as to whether the loan was approved or not.

Credit decisions are valid for 180 calendar days (approximately 6 months).

If after 5 business days your parent has not received a credit decision, there may be an issue with their application or credit:

• Credit Freeze
• Incorrect Parent Information (Social Security Number, birthday, etc.)

Your parent must lift their credit freeze from all three credit bureaus for a period of at least one week before a credit check can be run.

Your parent can lift applicable credit freezes by contacting each agency independently. Please contact Student Financial Services if removing a credit freeze after submitting a parent PLUS application.

The loan amount has no bearing on the credit check results. A credit check determination is valid for 180 days and cannot be re-run until that period has ended.

The interest rate on a parent PLUS loan is determined annually by the U.S. Department of Education. Each loan will have a fixed interest rate for the life of the loan.

Parent PLUS loan amounts will vary widely. You parent can borrow as much as they like as long as they are not exceeding your total cost of attendance.

If you are eligible for a parent PLUS loan, it will show up on your financial aid offer as the following amount:

(Annual cost of attendance) – (Other aid awarded) = Parent PLUS loan max amount

If your parent PLUS loan disbursement is greater than the charges on your account, a financial aid refund occurs.

When accepting a parent PLUS loan, your parent will have the option to choose whether they want any applicable refund to go to them or to you. If your parent wants the refund sent to them, our office will mail a paper check. If your parent opts to have excess funds sent to you, you may choose between direct deposit or a paper check. Direct deposit is not available to parent PLUS loan borrowers.

Why can’t my parent receive direct deposit?

WSU’s direct deposit system, TouchNet eRefunds, is only set up for students and does not support third-party deposits.

Loan periods must match WSU’s regular academic terms. Depending on your enrollment and need for a private education loan, you may apply for either both or one of the semesters in a single application. Summer term is always applied for as a separate loan.

WSU 2025-26 Academic Terms

WSU 2025-26 Academic Terms (Med Students)

Yes.

Private loan amounts can vary widely. Private loans cannot be certified for amounts higher than your Cost of Attendance.

You must be certain there is sufficient room in your aid budget to allow for an additional loan. For some students this may mean cancelling any federal loans you do not intend to take out such as subsidized or unsubsidized loans. WSU will only reduce unaccepted Parent PLUS and Grad PLUS loans to make room for a private education loan.

Interest rates, terms, conditions and benefits will vary between lenders.

Private loans may carry higher interest rates and fees than federal loans and offer less attractive repayment terms. These loans are typically based on your credit rating and debt-to-income ratio (not financial need) and may require a co-signer.

No.

Private Education loans are based on credit, not financial need, and are independent of the FAFSA process. You may utilize private education loans or alternative loans without a FAFSA on file.

However, we encourage you to apply for and accept any federal or state financial aid you qualify for before pursuing a private loan. You can use our Net Price Calculator to estimate your available financial aid and remaining educational costs prior to filling out a FAFSA or WASFA. This can give you a good idea of whether or not you may need a private loan.

The process for obtaining a private loan varies between lenders. Here a few tips to ensure a smooth transaction:

• You can check myWSU to determine eligibility. Compare the amount of Total Assistance listed against your Cost of Attendance. If your Total Assistance is less than your Cost of Attendance, you have eligibility that can be made up in the form of a private loan.
• Students may also contact Student Financial Services to determine their eligibility for additional private loan funding.
• Students may apply for a private loan through the lender of their choice. Student must be the primary borrower on the loan, although many lenders may require a co-borrower.
• Once the credit check for the student and co-signer (if applicable) is approved, the lender will send a request for certification to our office. Student Financial Services will certify the private loan for an amount no more than the unmet cost of attendance.