Completing the FAFSA or WASFA - Washington State Opportunity Scholarship

When you apply for the Baccalaureate (BaS) or Career & Technical Scholarship (CTS), you must also submit the FAFSA or WASFA. Follow the steps below to complete your FAFSA or WASFA. You can find more information on the FAFSA and WASFA websites.

We are aware of the many issues and obstacles facing families as they try to complete their financial aid paperwork this year. We recommend all applicants and families complete their financial aid paperwork as soon as possible.

If you are applying for the Baccalaureate Scholarship & experiencing challenges completing the FAFSA or WASFA, we have extended the deadline to complete the FAFSA/WASFA to April 5, 2024. The BaS application deadline is still February 29, 2024.
If you are applying for the Career & Technical Scholarship, we recommend completing the FAFSA/WAFSA by April 17, 2024, in order to meet our application deadline.

FAFSA Completion Steps

View the WASFA Completion Steps

Create an FSA ID account, which gives access to the FAFSA and allows you to sign in electronically.
- Create your FSA ID as soon as you can, as it can take one to three days for your information to be confirmed.

Create an account

If your parent(s)/guardian or spouse must contribute to your form, ensure each contributor creates their own StudentAid.gov account. Even if a contributor doesn’t have a Social Security number, they can create an account when the 2024–25 form goes live. 
- A contributor refers to anyone (you, your spouse, your biological or adoptive parent, or your parent’s spouse) required to provide information on your 2024–25 FAFSA or WASFA form.  
Gather documents needed to complete the FAFSA; your contributors will need the same items. 
- Your parents’/guardian’s SSNs if you’re a dependent student 
- Tax returns 
- Records of child support received 
- Current balances of cash, savings, and checking accounts 
- Net worth of investments, businesses, and farm

Keep these records! You may need them again. Do not mail these supporting records to us. 

Log in, complete the student application, and sign. 
Once the student application is complete, all contributors (parents, guardians, spouses, etc.) will receive an email inviting them to complete the contributor application.  
Contributor(s) complete their application and sign. 
Once all contributor applications are received, you will be notified that the application has been successfully processed. You can also log back into your StudentAid account to see if you have received all signatures from contributors and if your application has been processed.

If you are applying for the Baccalaureate Scholarship and have completed your FAFSA application online, we recommend attaching a screenshot confirming submission in the Financial section of the scholarship application. This will help us verify eligibility quickly in light of federal financial aid processing delays.
If you are applying for the Career & Technical Scholarship, we recommend completing the FAFSA by April 17, 2024, in order to meet our application deadline. After submission, check your online portal frequently to see if your application has been processed successfully or if additional actions are needed before it can be processed.

Additional resources

WASFA Completion Steps

Visit the WASFA website. New users completing the WASFA questionnaire for the first time will be asked questions to determine if the WASFA is the appropriate financial aid application to complete. If it is, a link to the WASFA application is provided. If not, a link to the FAFSA is provided. 
Create a new account.
Gather the documents needed to complete the WAFSA; your contributors will need the same items.  
- Your income information. This includes bank statements, a W-2 or pay stub, and/or a federal income tax return. 
  - If you filled out a federal tax return, use tax return information from two years before the current year.  
- Additional financial information – such as child support statements, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or welfare information, real estate, stocks or bonds investments, family business, or farm info. 
- Your Social Security card or I-797 Form if you have current or expired DACA status (optional).
- If you are a dependent student (most students under 24 years old), you will also need most of the above information for your parent(s) 
Complete the application. 
Once you complete the electronic signature section, you will be redirected to the WASFA home site. If you are an independent student, your application is complete and will be sent to your prospective schools within 24 hours. YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE EMAIL CONFIRMATION. 
- If you are a dependent student, you must invite your parents to sign your application electronically.  
Once you select the “invite a parent to sign an application” button in the Actions column, it will bring up your parent choices. 
- Choose only one parent and make sure their email address is correct. 
Your parent will review the application, verify their information, and sign the form electronically. A Social Security Number is optional to be able to sign. Those without one will enter 0000 in the SSN question. 
You will not receive confirmation once your application is complete. You must log back into your account to verify that all signatures have been added.

Additional resources:

Processing Timeline

If you are applying for the Baccalaureate Scholarship and have completed your WAFSA application online, we recommend attaching a screenshot confirming submission in the Financial section of the scholarship application. This will help us verify eligibility quickly in light of federal financial aid processing delays.
If you are applying for the Career & Technical Scholarship, we recommend completing the WAFSA by April 17, 2024, in order to meet our application deadline. After submission, check your online portal frequently to see if your application has been processed successfully or if additional actions are needed before it can be processed.