We want to make it easier to navigate the financial aid application process with clear instructions and helpful hints. Follow these steps:
1. Apply Every Year
2. Complete the FAFSA
- Complete the FAFSA (available online) after October 1 of each year (see below for deadlines). This is necessary to apply for financial aid (except scholarships). Our Title IV school code is 003790.
- See Prospective Student Financial Aid Instructions (PDF) for advice on completing the FAFSA.
- Important Note! If you did not disclose your Social Security Number on your application for admission, you must submit it to our office for the FAFSA information to download.
Deadlines:
- Entering students – apply as soon as possible for full consideration of all programs.
- Your completed file will be evaluated once you are admitted to the law school.
- You will receive an award letter within approximately three weeks of your admit date (but no earlier than mid-March).
- Limited funding programs are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.
- Continuing students must submit the FAFSA by February 15 for a timely award and consideration for all limited-funded programs.
3. Entrance Counseling
- Before receiving financial aid, you must receive online entrance counseling prior at studentaid.gov (click on Entrance Counseling).
- Federal Grad PLUS loan recipients, you must also complete Grad PLUS entrance counseling. Click on the Combination- Stafford and PLUS loans option. Financial Awareness Counseling is beneficial, but it is optional and does not count toward the federal Entrance Counseling requirement.
4. Verification
- If you are selected for verification (notification is on your Student Aid Report or by institutional request), you are required to submit:
- IRS tax return transcript (and your spouse's, if applicable) or select the FAFSA Data Retrieval Tool
- W-2 forms (if requested or if employed but not required to file)
- Verification Worksheet (you may receive an additional or different form). For more information, please review the Verification Cover Letter.
- You may use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool available using FAFSA on the web or submit a 2019 IRS tax return transcript(s) - not photocopies - of the income tax return.
Entering students may receive a tentative award letter prior to being verified, but the award may change due to the verification process. If a change occurs, a Revised Award Letter will follow. Funding cannot be released until verification is complete.
Continuing students are required to submit verification materials prior to file evaluation and the awarding of financial aid.
5. Promissory Notes
Stafford Loan: Entering students and/or first-time borrows must sign a Master Promissory Note (MPN), effective for 10 years, by visiting studentaid.gov.
Grad PLUS Loan: Complete a MPN in a similar manner as for a Stafford Loan (see above). You must also complete a Grad PLUS Request Form (also found at studentaid.gov). See Grad PLUS Application Steps for helpful application hints.
Private Loans: If your credit is approved, you must complete a loan application and promissory note for each private loan annually or for any supplemental private loans.
- Eligibility amount and lender information will be included with your Financial Aid Award Letter or see Alternative Credit-based Loans for information on alternative loans designed for graduate/law students.
- These are private lenders used in the past by our Seattle University School of Law students.
- You may borrow from any private lender you wish listed or not listed here, but please review the terms and conditions of the loan carefully.
- Because private loans are not eligible for federal loan consolidation, federal income-driven repayment plans or the Public Interest Federal Loan Forgiveness program, we encourage you to borrow using Grad PLUS if you require additional funding.
6. Funding Eligibility
- To receive financial aid, you must:
- Maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress according to federal regulations.
- Enroll for and complete a minimum number of credits and maintain a minimum GPA each academic year.
- Successfully complete a minimum of 16 credits (12 LLM/MLS) per academic year (a minimum of 8 law credits [or 5 credits LLM/MLS] each for fall and spring terms) and complete their law studies within 7 years, including leaves of absence.
- Be in good standing as defined in the Student Handbook.
- Failure to meet these standards may make you ineligible to receive financial aid. If this happens, you may be eligible for financial aid probation for the following term and then reassessed.
- You must be enrolled at least half-time each term to receive a student loan.
- Financial aid is provided only up to:
- 90 credits for JD students
- 24 credits for LLM students
- 30 credits for MLS students
7. Receiving Your Funding
- Institutional charges, such as tuition and fees, are always paid first with financial aid.
- Any leftover amount should be available for pick up (checks) at the Business Office (a separate department) or by direct deposit by the end of the first week of each term.
- To ensure that your funding will be ready, return all of the required documents quickly.
- Complete ABA certification on MySeattleU each term. It is particularly important that you complete (or have completed) a Federal Direct Stafford Loan Master Promissory Note and a signed Award Letter/Conditions of Award. You may be required to complete an entrance counseling session, provide tax documentation, or other information.
Always be prepared to pay for books and other expenses from your own resources for approximately the first two weeks of each term.
Note
Please see Pre-Admit Checklist and Post-Admit Checklist for reminder lists concerning the steps of the financial aid process.
