Most students and families use a variety of resources when it comes to paying for a post-secondary education.  These include: Income and Savings, Scholarships, Grants, and Student Loans.

There are also Tax Benefits for Education for which many qualify—but unfortunately, those won’t be realized until next year’s taxes are filed.

If you haven’t filed a FAFSA, do so as soon as possible at www.fafsa.gov. Electing to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool may allow for your application to be processed fairly quickly.  However, your application may not be processed prior to the January 25 spring tuition due date.  In that case, you will need to pay any charges from a prior term as well as $100 toward tuition, to avoid any late fees.  Please keep in mind, once a semester ends, the options available to help you pay for a ‘prior term’ are very limited.

For those unable to pay the entire bill by January 25, the University offers an Installment Payment Plan.  This allows you to defer the balance of your payment until February 12 and March 11.  All registered students were required to complete the Online University Credit Agreement which means you have completed the requirements to use the Installment Payment Plan if you need it.

If you did file the FAFSA, but you simply don’t have enough funds, there are a couple of financial aid programs left to consider. We encourage you to read pages 14-16 of the 2015-2016 Financial Aid Handbook, found in the online forms area of our website.  These pages discuss the Federal Parent and Graduate PLUS Loans and the Private Educational Loan program. Details on these popular programs, as well as links to the online applications, can be found on the corresponding webpages.   All are linked from www.loans.uwm.edu.  To qualify, these loan programs do require an approved credit check.

Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loans—a federal loan available to parents of dependent, undergraduate students.

Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loans—a federal loan available to students enrolled in a program leading to a graduate degree (not a certificate.)

Private Education Loans—many private lenders offer loans to students who need additional funds to pay for their post-secondary education.  This link provides lender names and a comparison tool to help in your selection.