Please note that prospective freshman and transfer students should not complete a University Aid Application, but should instead consult the Office of Admissions for information regarding application procedures and deadlines. Detailed information can also be found at Policies and Procedures for Regular Decision Applicants.

The University Aid Application (UAPP) should be completed by families of current or returning students who wish to apply for need-based assistance. The UAPP requests demographic information regarding the student and includes a questionnaire designed to help the Office of Financial Aid in awarding University endowed scholarships. Endowed funds have been given to Northwestern University by friends and alumni who have an interest in helping students meet their educational expenses. Without this assistance, Northwestern would not be able to continue to practice need-blind admission or attempt to meet the full institutional need of our financial aid applicants.

Students who are only interested in non need-based loans, namely the Unsubsidized Federal Stafford, the Federal PLUS and the NU Loan, do not need to complete the UAPP. Families who are currently borrowing from one or more of these loan programs and are not receiving any other type of aid will receive a reminder in mid-February with instructions on how to reapply for loan assistance for the following year.

If your family's financial circumstances have changed since you last applied for aid and you feel that you may now qualify for need-based assistance, feel free to complete the need-based application process. See Applying for Financial Aid - Application Procedures and Deadlines for further application requirements.

Beginning with the 2008-09 academic year, the University Aid Application will be available to complete and submit online via CAESAR.

To access the form, log on to your CAESAR account and go to your To Do List. You should see a To Do Item for the University Aid Application and next to it in the Contact Information column there is a link to "Complete UG Univ Aid Application Online".  Click this link to begin the application process. (If the UAPP is not showing on your To Do item checklist, please contact our office.)

The online UAPP consists of two pages. Some of the demographic information on the first page will already be filled in for you, but you will need to complete the Application Period information and questions 2-9 before proceeding on to the second page. Question 10 is an optional question that only needs to be completed if you are receiving an outside scholarship. Please do not respond to any part of this question unless you are the recipient of an outside scholarship.

The second page of the UAPP is a questionnaire designed to assist the Office of Financial Aid in awarding University endowed scholarships. All relevant fields must be completed before you can submit the form.

If you are not ready to submit the form, you may choose to save your data and exit at any time. You can retrieve the saved form later by following the link on your To Do List. You can continue to modify the data up until the point that you submit it. Once submitted, you will no longer be able to make any changes. Please note that the Financial Aid Office will not be able to access any data that you have entered until you have submitted the form.

When you are ready to submit the University Aid Application, click the "Submit" button. You will then be asked to respond to a statement of authorization and release of information.  By responding to this statement, you are electronically signing and submitting your UAPP.  You will no longer be able to make changes to the information contained on the form and the data will be made available to the Financial Aid Office for review.

Should you need to make revisions once the form has been submitted, or if you would like to include additional information regarding special circumstances, you will need to submit this in writing to the Office of Financial Aid.

If you have questions regarding this process please feel free to contact our office.