Financial Aid Beats Record for Student Outreach

The EWU Financial Aid team has completed a monumental effort: the first round of 2025-26 financial aid offers have been emailed to 1,957 admitted freshmen and transfer students. Hard copy letters are already in the mail!

Jens Larson, associate vice president of enrollment management, reported the great news last week, saying that as students complete their FAFSA and WASFA applications, EWU will continue sending aid offers weekly.

This is a significant achievement built on sustained success. It’s also the earliest EWU has ever sent financial aid offers, beating the previous record by three days.

“This accomplishment reflects the cumulative work of many individuals over the past five years to improve reporting, analytics, and automation,” says Larson, giving a shout-out to the entire team for their remarkable accomplishment.

“Excluding last year, when the FAFSA Simplification Act delayed FAFSA submission by nearly four months, we have sent offers earlier every year since 2019 and now send some of the earliest awards of any public institution in Washington,” Larson says. “It’s a remarkable team effort.”

Enrollment units will soon begin increasing outreach to help students understand their aid offers. “We want to help students pursue their college dreams and don’t want finances to stand in their way,” said Financial Aid and Scholarships Director Kandi Teeters.

As an example, the team will again offer and promote drop-in Zoom sessions for students and parents, running from late February through late April. These sessions will allow families to get personalized questions answered from wherever they are located, and without needing to make a trip to Cheney.

Students may also receive personalize outreach directly from Financial Aid, said Teeters. “Affordability is a critical component of college decision making, and we want students and families to make personal and helpful connections as they navigate complex financial decisions.”

EWU continues to have the highest FAFSA completion rate of any public university in Washington, and the institution was among the first to implement all ten Government Accountability Office recommendations for financial aid offers. Fewer than 1% of colleges nationwide met the GAO standard in 2021-22.