How to Apply for Financial Aid: First-Year Applicants for 2024-2025

Note: The Department of Education will not release the FAFSA for the 2024-2025 academic year until December, at the earliest. Applicants and parents should keep that in mind as they read the instructions below. Early Decision and Early Action applicants who believe they will have financial need should complete and submit the CSS Profile as soon as possible after it becomes available on October 1, 2023, and should note the priority application dates and requirements below.

 

Early Decision applicants can receive a preliminary financial aid offer by completing only the CSS Profile.

Early Action applicants must submit both the CSS Profile and the FAFSA, once it is available, in order to receive a preliminary financial aid offer.

Getting Started

Follow this link for a video introduction on applying for financial aid for undergraduate students

1) Am I Eligible for Financial Aid?

  • If you are a U.S. citizen or an eligible non-citizen, complete the CSS Profile and the FAFSA, once it is available, to determine your financial need. We recommend completing the Profile only if you believe you will qualify for and/or want to be considered for all forms of need-based financial aid.
  • If you are not eligible to complete the FAFSA and live in Virginia, you may be eligible to complete the VASA application. Please review the application page to learn more.
  • If you are an international student, please see our Scholarships & Grants page
Financial Aid Flow Chart

2) When Should I Apply for Financial Aid?

Whether you are applying for early decision, early action, or regular decision, this page provides all the information you need to complete your application for need-based financial aid through Student Financial Services (SFS). Please read the information carefully to be sure you follow all the required steps to apply for the type of financial aid you are interested in. Do not wait until after you receive your admission decision to apply for financial aid. By then, you may have missed the deadline.

Deadlines

  Priority Financial Aid Application Date

Final Financial Aid Application Deadline Date

Early Decision* November 15, 2023 March 1, 2024
Early Action** December 1, 2023 March 1, 2024
Regular Decision February 1, 2024 March 1, 2024
* Complete and submit the Profile by November 15, 2023, only if you think you might qualify for need-based financial aid. Then submit the FAFSA as soon as possible after it becomes available. If you only want federal financial aid, complete the FAFSA only once it becomes available.
** Complete and submit the Profile by December 1, 2023, only if you think you might qualify for need-based financial aid. Then submit the FAFSA as soon as possible after it becomes available. If you only want federal financial aid, complete the FAFSA only once it becomes available.Early Action applicants must complete both the CSS Profile and the FAFSA to receive a preliminary financial aid offer.

3) How Do I Apply for Financial Aid?

If you believe you have financial need and want to be considered for all forms of need-based financial aid, complete and submit:

Our CSS Profile school code is 5820, and our Federal School Code for the FAFSA is 003745. Click here for common application errors and how to avoid them.

Early Decision and Early Action applicants: Complete and submit the Profile as soon as possible, according to the priority dates listed above. Then, when the FAFSA becomes available in December, complete and submit that to us. Early Action applicants MUST submit both a CSS Profile and a FAFSA to receive a preliminary financial aid offer.


If you are not eligible to complete the FAFSA, you may still be eligible to complete the VASA application.

Please review the VASA application page and our resources for Students Who Cannot Complete the FAFSA to learn more. Students who cannot complete the FAFSA include students with DACA status or with a different undocumented status. Note that the VASA application will likely not be released until several weeks after the FAFSA.


If you are interested only in federal financial aid, complete and submit only the 2024-2025 FAFSA once it becomes available in December.

The U.S. Department of Education has prepared a checklist of documents and information to have available when you’re completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). 


If you are interested only in merit-based aid, please see our Scholarships & Grants page for non need-based options that may be available to you. 

4) What Do I Do Next?

Completed all the applications you need to? Good job! Now, we'll review your information for financial aid eligibility. Meanwhile, check your To Do List in the Student Information System (SIS) to see if we are asking for additional items, such as parent and student tax documents. If there are items still on your list, that means that you really have "to do" them!

Some applicants might get a document request by email from IDOC at the College Board.

Some students are chosen for a required process called verification. If you've been selected, we'll send you an email to let you know. And again, you'll want to keep an eye on your To Do List in you SIS.

If your parents are divorced, separated, or were never married, see this page for more information.

A note about scholarships: UVA meets 100% of a student's need with scholarships, grants, work-study and need-based loans. Generous donors provide much of the scholarship and grant funding. Your financial aid application submission authorizes the University to show your name, demographic information and relevant offer amount(s) to University Advancement and applicable donors(s). If you receive a donor-funded grant or scholarship, you can ‘opt out’ of this disclosure as required by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) at that time.