How to Apply for Financial Aid: First-Year Applicants for 2023-2024

If you want to be considered for all forms of need-based financial aid, including state and University grants and scholarships, complete and submit

• the 2023-2024 FAFSA
• the 2023-2024 CSS Profile ("Profile")

Our Federal School Code for the FAFSA is 003745, and our Profile school code is 5820.

Beginning February 24, 2022, College Board is introducing a new sign in service for student College Board accounts through Okta. Students with existing College Board accounts will need to migrate to Okta. If you have questions about this transition, please contact College Board Customer Service.

If you are only interested in federal financial aid, complete and submit only the 2023-2024 FAFSA.

The U.S. Department of Education has prepared a helpful checklist of documents and information to have available when you’re completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). In particular, to speed up data entry, ensure accuracy of tax-related information on the FAFSA, and to greatly reduce the chances of your application being selected for federal verification:

• Use the FAFSA Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) if you are eligible to do so
• Do not make any changes to the data you transfer from the IRS website

* Completing and submitting all required applications and additionally-requested documents by the priority date increases the likelihood that you'll receive your preliminary financial aid offer much sooner than if you wait until March 1st.

** If you are an eligible applicant for financial aid and submit your FAFSA and Profile by March 1, 2023, we will meet all of your demonstrated need, even if your other application materials arrive after the deadline. If you submit your FAFSA and/or Profile after March 1, 2023, you may still receive some grants. In recent years, we have been able to give grants to late applicants, but we can't always promise to be able to do so.

We might need additional documents from some students, and we list some examples below. A request might come from SFS or from IDOC at the College Board. Either way, you'll get clear instructions on what to submit and how and where to send it. Please do not send any of the documents below unless you are specifically asked to do so.

Some students are chosen for a process called verification. It's how the U.S. Department of Education makes sure that the information you provided on the FAFSA is correct.  And SFS sometimes asks for documents to verify information from the Profile. If you are chosen for federal verification, we'll let you know what you need to provide. It’s good to have the documents below available ahead of time, preferably in an electronic format, so you’ll be ready to submit copies quickly if you need to. The sooner you get your documents in, the sooner you'll have your financial aid offer. The following are some of the items that may be requested of you and added to your Student Information System (SIS) To Do List:

• Student Federal Tax Return and all Schedules for 2021
• Student W2 and/or 1099 and/or K-1 form(s) for 2021
• Student Tax Return Transcript for 2021 – you can order it now, here, and have it sent to your home, so you’ll be ready to send copies later, if requested.  Paper copies may take longer than 2 weeks to arrive once you order them. If you did not file a tax return in 2021, request a Verification of Non-filing Letter.
• Student ID documents such as passport, birth certificate, Social Security card, Permanent Resident Card, etc.
• Parent Federal Tax Return and all Schedules for 2021
• Parent W2 and/or 1099 and/or K-1 form(s) for 2021
• Parent Tax Return Transcript for 2021 – you can order it now, here, and have it sent to your home, so you’ll be ready to send copies later, if requested. Paper copies may take longer than 2 weeks to arrive once you order them. If your parent(s) did not file a tax return in 2021, request a Verification of Non-filing Letter.

If both of your biological or adoptive parents are living, and they are divorced, separated, or were never married to each other, and they do not live together, for the purposes of applying for financial aid one will be considered the custodial and the other will be considered the non-custodial parent. The custodial parent is:

• The parent with whom you lived more than 50% of the 12-month period prior to the date you submit the FAFSA

OR, if you lived equally with both parents:

• The parent who provided more than 50% of your support during the 12-month period prior to the date you submit the FAFSA

Only the custodial parent's information needs to be included on the FAFSA. The Profile is requested of both the custodial and non-custodial parents, if both are living. Please visit the College Board’s website for more information about the Profile application process as it relates to divorced or separated parents.

If the non-custodial parent will not be able to submit the Profile, please either complete our waiver request form or contact us to discuss your situation. Submit the form electronically, using the DocuSign form at the above link, and within approximately two weeks we'll send you an e-mail about whether or not a waiver can be granted. Based on what you provide on your waiver request, our office may follow up with you directly for more information.

Please be aware that it is UVA’s philosophy that, to the extent they are able, both biological parents share a responsibility to help pay for the education of their dependent children. A parent’s unwillingness to contribute is not necessarily grounds for a waiver of the Profile application. In cases where a divorced custodial parent has remarried, stepparent information is also required.

We all make mistakes in our lives now and then! Financial aid application mistakes happen, and they can sometimes cause substantial delays in processing your financial aid offer. Take your time filling out applications, work carefully, and review this list of errors to avoid. Bear in mind that most errors mentioned for the FAFSA apply also to the Profile and vice versa.

For both the FAFSA and Profile, be especially sure:

• To double check your Social Security card to ensure that you:
  • Type your SSN accurately into your applications and;
  • List your name exactly as it appears on your Social Security card;
  • If a parent helps fill out the applications, make sure they list your SSN, not their SSN or that of one of your siblings!
• That you enter the student and parent birth dates accurately. Don't confuse one for the other!
• The FAFSA and the Profile sometimes ask for the same information. Make sure your answers match between the two forms!

Finally, be sure to read your Student Aid Report (SAR) carefully once you have submitted your FAFSA. Many times, errors you may have made on your FAFSA are listed on the SAR along with instructions for how to correct them.

We know you will be eager to get your financial aid offer as soon as possible, and we want you to have it, too. We understand how important the financial aid offer is for many students in deciding which school to attend. And it takes time for us to do a complete and accurate review of your financial aid application, and we want to take great care in our review. We ask for your patience as we review applications in the order in which they become complete.

Meanwhile, check your To Do List in the Student Information System (SIS) to ensure we have everything we need. If there are items still on your list, that means that you really have "to do" them!

You may want to contact us if you are an admitted first-year or transfer applicant, your enrollment decision is due within two-weeks’ time, and you haven’t yet received an aid offer. If that's the case, pick up the phone and call our office at (434) 982-6000 to see if there’s anything else you need to do.

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.