Students and families filing the Washington Application for State Financial Aid (WASFA) this year will find the experience easier and more intuitive. The Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) has launched a redesigned application with the aim of making financial assistance more accessible to students across the state. The WASFA is for Washington students who cannot or choose not to submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
“Some of the complaints that we heard about the previous WASFA include: ‘It’s too long, I don’t understand it, and it’s really difficult to navigate,’” said Shannon Venezia, Ph.D., director of student financial assistance at WSAC, a state agency focused on increasing educational attainment. “We want you to get through this with your parent in less than 20 minutes.”
An easier application starts with fewer questions; the state cut several it didn’t need answers to. For example, the previous application had questions about assets, investments, and business or farm value, even though the state did not need that information to award aid. To collect less personal data, the state also cut fields like students’ street addresses.
The redesigned application is also easier to navigate. “It looks so much better,” said Venezia. “It looks friendlier and easier to use.” The site, built by Concourse, adapts to phones, tablets, and computers, so students can easily fill it out on whatever device they use.
The new version also expands language access. The WASFA has been available in Spanish since 2022. It is now also available in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.
A demo version of the site, open to anyone, lets high school counselors, students, and families try the application before filing. “We had a college and career counselor write to us and say they were able to use the demo site to see where a student got stuck on the application and help them right away,” said Venezia.
The new application arrives amid a broader push by the state for more students to complete a FAFSA or WASFA. Earlier this year, Governor Bob Ferguson announced a new legislative proposal that would make filling out one of the two applications, or opting out, a requirement for high school graduation. Students can use either application to apply for the Washington College Grant (WA Grant). “Many students can get their full tuition covered at a state institution, and many don’t realize it,” said Lucas Minor, senior director for postsecondary affordability at WSAC.
WSAC’s measure of success is simple: more students applying. “Could we serve more students in Washington?” said Venezia. “That’s success to me.”
The 2027-28 WASFA application is available at: https://wasfa.onconcourse.com/en. Learn more at wsac.wa.gov/WASFA.
About Washington Student Achievement Council
The Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) is a cabinet-level state education agency. WSAC’s mission is to increase the number of people in Washington who get education or training beyond a high school diploma. WSAC focuses on improving outcomes for people and groups furthest from educational equity. Learn more at wsac.wa.gov.
About Concourse
Concourse builds software exclusively for the public sector. We’ve partnered with more than 120 organizations, ranging from state IT departments to city clerk offices, from school districts to airports. We configure our software to the way each agency works, rather than asking them to conform to the product. Learn more at concoursetech.com.
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