Financial Aid

No. Reducing tuition rarely benefits a family in the end. Lower tuition rates attract attention, but when combined with reduced financial aid support, the net cost is often unchanged. Simply, you want to look at your net cost to attend each school you are considering. This includes tuition, room and board, as well as scholarships you’ve earned and grants for which you qualify. Our team is dedicated to developing a personalized financial plan for each student. We believe that when families go through the financial aid process, they will find that Northwestern offers a competitive total cost.

At UNW, we create an individualized plan for each family based on financial need and student achievement throughout your high school career. Your individual plan could include academic scholarships, special interest scholarships (such as Music or Theatre), or discounts that recognize your family’s unique relationship to Northwestern. Depending on your family’s unique financial situation, you could qualify for a need-based grant from UNW in addition to federal or state grants. We also go above and beyond to help students find scholarships and financial aid opportunities in addition to what they receive from Northwestern.

Yes. The best way to find out is to apply for admission to UNW and complete a FAFSA for the year you plan to begin at UNW. When you add our school code (002371) to your FAFSA, it will be sent to UNW. We’ll use that information as well as your admission application to craft a complete financial aid package. Your easy-to-follow financial aid packet will be mailed to you and will outline exactly what your net cost will be for tuition, room and board after your earned scholarships and grants have been applied. In addition, our admissions and financial aid counselors will meet with you to discuss your package and answer any questions personally.

You do not need to do anything to accept your scholarships and grants. Those will automatically be applied to your student account. You will receive half of your scholarships and grants for the fall and half for the spring.

You do need to accept/decline your loan offers. Instructions for this are included later in the FAQs.

We do our best to include all financial aid opportunities available to you in your first award notification.

We do have an appeal process for unusual financial circumstances that cannot be reported on the FAFSA. The appeal forms can be found here. You will need to submit the appeal form to the Financial Aid Office, with supporting documentation. After review of your documents, we will communicate with you if additional need-based grants are available.

You will have the opportunity to apply for the Northwestern Scholarship in fall 2024. The Northwestern Scholarship is available to all continuing/returning students. The Northwestern Scholarship Application will be available on myUNW during the fall semester. If you are awarded the Northwestern Scholarship, you will receive the scholarship for the 25/26 academic year at Northwestern. Students will be notified when it is time to apply for the Northwestern Scholarship.

You do need to complete the FAFSA every year to be considered for need-based grants and student loans. The 2024-25 FAFSA is now available.

As long as you continue to meet the necessary requirements to keep your UNW scholarships, your scholarships will be carried forward automatically. You do not need to complete the FAFSA if you know that you won’t qualify for need-based grants and/or you are not interested in student loans.

We start awarding continuing/returning students during the spring semester prior to following fall semester. You will receive your Financial Aid Award letter at your UNW email.

If you have not received a financial aid award package from us, it may be for one of the following reasons:

• Northwestern has not received your completed Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The FAFSA can be completed online. Once Northwestern has started awarding financial aid, you should receive an award package from us within one to two weeks of Northwestern’s receipt of your FAFSA, as long as you are not selected for verification.
• Your FAFSA was received by Northwestern, but there is a ‘hold’ on the FAFSA because of an error or because the Financial Aid Office requires additional information from you. If this is the case, the Financial Aid Office contacted you by email to explain what was needed. Please contact the Financial Aid Office if you have any questions.
• You do not intend to complete the FAFSA. Financial aid award packets are not sent to students who will not be completing the FAFSA. FAFSA is not required to receive Northwestern scholarships. Your Northwestern scholarships will automatically be applied to your student account at the beginning of the semester. You will receive half of the scholarship award in fall and the other half in spring.

To accept a loan listed in your award offer follow these instructions:

• Log in to myUNW
• Under Pages, select Financial Aid (Financial Aid Information and Resources)
• Under Resources, select View Your Financial Aid
• Update Award Year (upper right corner)
• Go to Award Offer to accept, change amount, or decline any of the loans offered
• Complete additional loan requirements defined on Loan Options if they apply to you.