You still have time to complete your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). This is how millions of students across the U.S. receive federal aid to help fund their college education. There is no cost to complete your FAFSA – all you need are a few financial documents.

Image	1. Create Your studentaid.gov account To get started, you and your parents (if you're a dependent student) must create a studentaid.gov account. You will use this to log in and sign your FAFSA.
Image	2. Complete Your 2025-26 FAFSA Don't forget to add our school code to your FAFSA too, 001083.
Image	3. Review Your Financial Aid Offer Once you submit your FAFSA, you can expect to receive your financial aid offer via text and/or email within 2-3 weeks. Your offer will contain information about your estimated cost of attendance and the financial aid that has been offered to you.

A college education is a big investment for you and your family. Let’s break down the average cost of a University of Arizona education.

All students who apply for financial aid are assigned a estimated cost of attendance (COA). Your housing choice, degree program, and meal plan are all factors that affect your estimated cost of attendance. The COA is not a bill, but is designed to help you estimate and plan for the expenses you might have as a student. 

Our COA chart lists the average living and student expenses you are likely to incur during the academic year (fall and spring semesters). Each student circumstance is unique, so your costs may be more or less than these averages.

Your COA will include both direct costs and indirect costs. Direct costs are the amounts billed directly to your student account by the university. These are expenses that you usually cannot control, like tuition and fees. 

Some of these costs will be direct costs, or costs that are billed directly to your student account through the Bursar’s Office. Tuition and mandatory fees are examples of direct costs. Other direct costs could include housing (if living on campus), a parking pass, or a meal plan. 

To get a better idea of what your bill may look like come July, here is an example bill from the Bursar Office for a non-resident student that includes potential direct costs (including on-campus housing, meal plan, and parking permit).

Indirect costs are other expenses you might incur as a student, like groceries or personal expenses, which you can often control through choices and budgeting.

At Arizona, nine out of ten students receive financial aid. That means most students' out of pocket expenses are less than what's estimated. By maximizing your financial aid and using cost-saving strategies, you can lower your costs while earning a degree that will pay you back for a lifetime. 

Scholarship Universe is a powerful scholarship-matching tool that connects Wildcats to millions of dollars in funding each year. You can find a series of videos with tips on perfecting your scholarship search on our website. 

Verification is the process of a school checking the information provided on the FAFSA for the U.S. Department of Education. Our office is required to collect additional documentation from you in order to complete this requirement. In some cases, this review can result in a change to a student’s financial aid offer. 

To get started:

• The To Do List item in your UAccess Student Center will include a link to the appropriate form and details on what types of documentation is required.
• You will submit all required documentation online via the form link provided, unless otherwise instructed. 
• Your login credentials to access the form are your NetID and password.

Verification can take a few weeks to process and will prevent the release of your federal financial aid, so we highly advise completing this requirement as early as possible.

When you apply to the University of Arizona, you are automatically evaluated for merit scholarships based on the terms and conditions for the year you are admitted. Although this offer is non-negotiable, we encourage you to apply for additional scholarship opportunities on Scholarship Universe throughout your time as a Wildcat. You can find a series of videos with tips on perfecting your scholarship search on our website. For questions regarding your scholarship amount and how it was calculated, contact the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. 

We understand that families’ financial circumstances may have changed. We will work with students and families to review their individual circumstances and recommend the appropriate next steps. If your current financial situation has changed since you filed your 2025-2026 FAFSA, we encourage you to review our FAFSA Data Appeal information. 

Student and parent loans will be available for acceptance for the fall semester in mid-July through UAccess, and we will send an email to your CatMail account notifying you of the date you may begin to accept your loan(s).  

In addition to accepting your loans, students will also need to complete a Master Promissory Note (MPN) and Loan Entrance Counseling before loan funds can be released. Parents will need to be granted UAccess Guest Center access, authorize a required credit check and complete a Master Promissory Note (MPN) to accept and receive Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loans. Visit our Accept Your Loans webpage for detailed instructions and walkthroughs of the loan borrowing process.

You may choose the amount to borrow; it does not have to be the full amount offered to you. Keep in mind that the loan amount you accept will be split in two even disbursements; half for the fall and half for the spring. 

Refer to the Office of the Registrar website to learn about Residency classification standards and procedures at the University of Arizona.

Yes! You will need to file a FAFSA for every year you'd like to receive financial aid. Once you become a Wildcat, your priority submission date each year will be March 1st.

We encourage students to review their financial aid offer in depth to better understand their estimated net price. Remember, your net price reflects how much of your estimated cost of attendance remains after your gift aid is applied. Your financial aid offer will contain self-help aid options to help you cover your net price but you do not have to use these options and they may or may not cover the full net price.

Questions to consider: 

• Are there self-help aid options available to me and what are they? 
• Am I willing/able to work while in school to help cover costs? 
• Do I (or my parent) want to borrow loans? 
• Is my parent able to borrow a parent loan? 
• Do I have access to other means to cover the net cost, including family savings or private educational loans?
• Can I and/or my parents cover this cost for the next four to five years? 

These can be difficult questions to consider but they are important when making the decision to come to the University of Arizona. 

You are not alone! Please reach out to an Ask Aid representative who can help you understand your potential costs and aid option.