Who qualifies for financial aid?

Every University of Wisconsin-Madison student is admitted based on merit, including such criteria as high school grades and ranking, test scores, extracurricular activities, leadership responsibilities and part-time employment.

Financial aid fills the “unmet need gap” between the cost of attending the UW-Madison and available funding sources.

The objective of financial aid is to assure that promising admitted students are able to become attending students. A financial aid package includes a combination of some or all of these sources, which may still be insufficient to meet the needs of our students.