Current Financial Aid News:

• Federal Direct Loan Interest Rates Rise for 2021-2022
  • Annual interest rates for the Federal Direct Loan program, which provides billions of dollars each year to undergraduate college students, will rise from 2.75% to 3.73% beginning July 1, 2021. This increase in interest rates will apply to loans borrowed for the 2021-2022 academic year.
  • The interest on a Federal Direct Loan is fixed at the time of the first payment of the loan. Loans borrowed during the 2020-2021 academic year will retain the 2.75% interest rate until the loan paid in full.
  • Rates for graduate student loans will also increase in 2021-22. Interest rates on graduate Federal Direct Loans will increase to 5.28% for 2021-2022.
  • Parent PLUS loans, which are loans that may be borrowed by qualifying parents for their undergraduate children, will have an annual interest rate of 6.28% for the 2021-2022 academic year. Graduate PLUS loans, a supplemental loan program for graduate students will also see an interest rate increase to 6.28% for the 2021-2022 academic year.
  • Interest rates on Federal Direct Loans for the upcoming academic year are based on the rate of U.S. 10-year Treasury Notes at the last auction of May of each year. The last auction of such notes was held May 12th, 2021.
• The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program will open May 12, 2021. This program will allow eligible households, which includes those with a Pell Grant recipient, to receive substantially subsidized broadband service. Please visit https://getemergencybroadband.org to for more details and to register.
   
• Complete your FAFSA: If you are interested in receiving federal and state financial aid you must complete a FAFSA application.
  • The 2020-2021 FAFSA was available as of October 1, 2019
  • The 2021-2022 FAFSA is NOW available
• The 2021-2022 UWRF scholarship application is now closed. The deadline to apply for most scholarships was February 1, 2021. Deadline dates for certain scholarship opportunities may vary, so please refer to the UW-River Falls scholarship system. For more information, please UWRF Scholarships.
   
• IMPORTANT for students and families: You should ONLY use https://fafsa.gov when applying for financial aid.
  Be aware that you may receive information from other organizations including one called Student Financial Resource Center (SFRC). These organizations are not affiliated with the university and do not have our permission nor our endorsement to contact you. Remember, you NEVER need to pay anything to apply for financial aid. Always contact our office directly if you have any questions regarding anything you receive by mail or email.
   
• New to FAFSA: As of May 10, 2015, the Federal Student Aid PIN has been replaced with the FSA ID. To learn more about the FSA ID and how to create this ID, please visit The Federal Student Aid webpage.
   
• Submitting IRS tax information to UW-River Falls for your financial aid: 
  If you received a Verification Missing Information Email, visit our Submit Verification Documents page to view instructions on submitting your IRS tax information to UW-River Falls.
   
• External Scholarships:
  • If you have received an External Scholarship Check please submit the check to the UWRF Student Billing Office, 215 North Hall.
  • Federal regulations require financial aid offices to include all outside funding in student aid awards. Utilize the Outside Resource Notification Form to promptly notify us of any outside resources you receive.
• IRS WARNS of NEW EMAIL SCAM: Fraudulent emails have been sent out and appear to be sent from "IRS Online." The email could contain an attachment labeled "Tax Account Transcript," or something similar. The IRS does not send unsolicited emails to the public or emails with sensitive information. IRS asks to not open the email and to delete it or forward the email to phishing@irs.gov. If using an employer's computer, the IRS asks the employee to notify his or her company of the email.
   
• It has been brought to our attention that someone pretending to be from the IRS is calling UWRF college students stating that the student owes a "college tax." This is a SCAM. The IRS does NOT call anyone to tell them they owe specific taxes. We advise students not to answer these calls and certainly do not give out any personal information. If you have questions, please contact our office.
   
• 18-19 Money Matters Presentation: Financial Aid and Billing information.
• Financial Aid Parent Orientation Session June 2019
• Journey through Financial Aid:  An introduction to understanding and obtaining financial aid, for prospective college and university students.