MollyHun

I wanted to know if the WUE and fafsa are the same thing? I know that obviously they aren't the same, but is it the same money. Like do they go off of what is on the fafsa when giving you WUE money? Or could you get both the WUE and fafsa to help pay for costs?

4kidsdad

No, they're not the same.

WUE is the Western Undergraduate Exchange, a program of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE).

Through WUE, students in western states, including Hawaii, may enroll in many four-year college programs outside of their home state at a reduced fee level: 150 percent of the institution’s regular resident tuition. WUE tuition is considerably less than nonresident tuition.

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (known as the FAFSA) is a form that can be prepared annually by current and prospective college students (undergraduate and graduate) in the United States to determine their eligibility for student financial aid (including the Pell Grant, Federal student loans and Federal Work-Study).[1]

Despite its name, the application is not for a single federal program, being rather the gateway of consideration for:
1. the nine federal student-aid programs
2. the 605 state aid programs
3. most of the institutional aid available


See Wikipedia for more info.

mom2collegekids

FAFSA doesn't give you money. It's just an application to see if you qualify for federal aid. Do you know what your EFC might be?

WUE is just an agreement between state schools to let OOS kids enroll at 150% of instate tuition rate. Unless the WUE school has a really low instate rate, the COA for WUE school can easily be $25k or more per year.


Be aware that many WUE schools will not give you merit scholarships if you get the WUE rate.

If your FAFSA EFC is beyond the Pell amount (about 5000), do not expect much/any FA from the WUE school beyond a small federal loan.

That may be shocking for someone with an EFC of - say $6,000. A school may have a COA of $28k, but still only be given a 5500 student loan and a huge gap.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that a school takes your EFC and then gives you enough money to cover the rest of the cost of college. Most schools do not have the money to do that...especially public univ...especially OOS public univs.

People forget that even tho you're getting a WUE rate, you're still an OOS student and the state school's first priority is to help their instate students. State aid isn't given to WUE students since they're not residents. OOS publics don't have much/any money to give to OOS students for need-based aid.

WUE seems to work best for those who can afford to pay the WUE COA.

entomom

I will add that when considering WUE go beyond the main WUE website to the individual college websites as the devil is in the details. Participating schools vary in their eligibility requirements, including gpa, test scores, state of origin, and major.