Students are receiving their financial aid awards earlier

Students now have more time to plan their funding for the 2017-18 academic year.

Seattle Central’s Financial Aid office is now awarding aid to students for the next school year, five months earlier than in years’ past. Since the federal government pushed back the start date of the application from Jan. 1 to Oct. 1, students are now applying earlier, which provides more time to process applications. The new timeline also increases the likelihood that students’ applications will be successfully processed.

The key change is having students/parents provide the previous year’s tax information instead of the current year’s. The challenge was that students/parents had to wait until taxes were filed to obtain the necessary information, where the tight priority deadline led some students to use incorrect numbers, which were difficult to correct.

Aid for students is still being awarded for spring and summer quarters. For questions and assistance on the application, students may call the Financial Aid office at (206) 934-3844 or visit in person in BE1104.