Apply For Financial Aid
The admission process for Northwestern University can be daunting. The university understands this and does everything possible to make the process easy. The first step is to determine if you’re eligible for financial aid. If you are, you’ll need to complete all necessary paperwork before applying for admission. Here’s what you need to know:
Requesting Admission Application Consideration
The application for admission is a separate process from the financial aid application. The application for admission is available in early fall and must be completed before you can apply for financial aid.
- The first step in applying for undergraduate financial aid at Northwestern University is to complete an online application (you will not need to submit any supporting documents now). If you already have an account with us, please use your username and password when accessing the system. If not, click "Create Account" below and follow the prompts to create one.
- Once logged into our secure portal, click 'Apply For Financial Aid' located under 'Tools' on the screen's left side near the bottom of the page.
- This will take you directly into our online application, where we will ask basic questions about your family size and income earned.
Complete and submit the FAFSA
- Complete and submit the FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
- The FAFSA is required to apply for federal student loans and grants, so if you're looking for financial aid from Northwestern University or any other university in the U.S., you must complete this application before applying.
- You can complete it online at https://fafsa4caster.ed.gov/. The site allows you to save your progress as you go through each section of the form so that when you return later, all your information will be there waiting for you!
Completing this form takes approximately 30 minutes; however, if needed, there are also options within certain sections where users can select an "extended time" option, which allows them additional time (upwards of 2 hours) to complete all requirements necessary before submitting their application successfully.
Complete and submit the CSS Profile
For your application to be considered for financial aid, you must complete and submit the CSS Profile. Over 1,600 colleges and universities nationwide use this standardised financial aid application. It’s free to complete and only takes about 10 minutes!
Complete and submit federal tax forms
To complete your financial aid application, you must submit federal tax forms. You can do this before or after applying for aid; however, it's recommended that you do so as soon as possible. If a parent or student has already filed their federal taxes and has yet to receive their W-2 form (usually mailed out in January), they should still be able to use their last year's return instead of waiting until they receive their W-2s.
Once there, select the "File Your Taxes Now" button under Step 1: File Your Federal Income Tax Return(s). Then follow instructions on how long it takes for these documents to be processed by NU Financial Aid Services once they've been submitted by students and parents/guardians who completed them through TurboTax Online.
Deadlines
The deadlines for the various financial aid programs are as follows:
- Early Decision deadline: November 1
- Regular Decision deadline: January 15
- Early Decision II deadline: February 1
- Regular Decision II deadline: March 1
Complete all required paperwork before applying to Northwestern.
You will need to complete all required paperwork before applying for financial aid. To do this, you can:
- Complete the FAFSA and CSS Profile online at fafsa.gov or cssprofileonline.org
- Fill out federal tax forms (1040 or 1040EZ) with your parent(s)’ information and attach them to the FAFSA form when you submit it online.
- If you are unable to do so, ask your parents’ accountant or tax preparer for help completing this step of the process; they may charge a fee for their services but should be able to guide you through it easily enough if they are familiar with how this process works on behalf of their clients who file taxes themselves every year.
Suppose there is any additional required documentation needed by Northwestern University, such as proof of income from work during high school years or other types of financial records like bank statements etc. In that case, these should also be submitted through our website once we receive confirmation from our office staff that everything else has been turned in successfully via email notification from Northwestern Financial Aid Office staff members.