Transcript First Year Experience - University of Washington

First Year Experience
Office of Student Financial Aid
Access
Through financial aid programs, we make
the UW affordable to low and middle
income families who would not otherwise
be able to attend.
Diversity
• Financial aid programs help the UW
accomplish diversity goals
• Socioeconomic diversity—our best funds
are focused on the lowest income students
• We administer Diversity Scholarships and
the University Opportunity Grant program
to award targeted funds to diverse
populations.
First Year starts before they get
here
• We reassure parents and students that aid
is available
• We try to make them believe it is possible
to attend—don’t rule us out!
• We’re present at high school nights,
college fairs, Minority Student Invitational
sessions, Diversity Scholars sessions,
Plan a Transfer Day
Financial Aid Awards
• Financial Aid award letters are sent to
students 4-6 weeks before the May 1
response deadline.
• “Negotiations” begin—really a second look
at student and parents’ finances—can we
better reflect their ability to pay and adjust
their award accordingly?
• We rush to provide the best information
we can before May 1.
For our parents and students-• One of our goals is to remove and
alleviate financial burdens and anxieties
so students can concentrate on their
academics and extracurricular activities at
the UW.
New Student Counseling
• First year counseling is more about
process at the UW—how does aid work,
how is aid disbursed, how much can I get?
• Provided through individual counseling as
convenient for student—in person, phone
or email counseling available.
• Loan counseling is available, but not as
much interest from students until their later
years.
Parents!
• Parents are an important part of the first
year experience.
• Our counselors spend many hours of
individual counseling time answering
parents’ questions about financial aid and
their student’s eligibility.
• For families out of the area, we provide
comprehensive information via our web
page, email and phone service.
Scholarship Program Coordination
• Coordinate award notification of
scholarships with Admissions, Space
Grant and Honors programs
• Provide eligibility information to Gates
Millennium, WEF Achievers
• Counsel Achievers throughout the years
on financial matters
• Assist in private scholarship search
Work Study Opportunities
• We administer the work study program to
provide work opportunities (primarily oncampus) to new freshmen and transfer
students.
• On campus work study helps students
connect with the campus, provides
meaningful job experiences, and helps
finance their higher education costs.
Satisfactory Academic Progress
• We monitor students’ academic progress each
quarter, on an annual basis and for length of
time to complete degree.
• We review appeals from first year students who
did not meet the financial aid satisfactory
academic progress requirements.
• Counsel students in where to get help on
campus with their personal and academic issues
that are preventing academic success.
Other First Year Activities
• Parent Orientation sessions
• DAWG Days Orientation sessions
• SSS/Trio Welcome sessions
• Provide funding for Early Fall Start
participants