William Paterson University Financial Aid

Home to five undergraduate colleges and about 10,000 undergrads, William Paterson University is a public institution located in the town of Wayne, New Jersey. Home to about 54,000 people, Wayne is a suburban bedroom town only 15 miles outside of Manhattan, which makes for a great college setting in a few ways: it's quieter than a big city, but it's not way out in the middle of the country, and getting into Manhattan is super easy. Originally founded as a teacher's college, it became a general university in 1966, and now has a College of Arts and Communication, a College of Business, a College of Education, a College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and a College of Science and Health.

We don't think it makes all that much sense when college students spend tons of money during the semester while they're borrowing money to pay their tuition bill. Does that make much sense to you? We hope it doesn't, and we hope that you won't be one of these students. A little bit of personal spending is okay, as long as you have room in your budget for it, like occasional trip into NYC with your friends or going out to eat at the local hotspots in Wayne. Just be sure that you watch your spending carefully!

Applying for William Paterson University Financial Aid

WPU is a public institution, and that means you'll only have to deal with filling out and submitting one form to receive William Paterson University financial aid and that form is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or the FAFSA (and honestly, the FAFSA's not bad at all!). That means your aid application process shouldn't be too involved, as long as you go into it with a good level of preparation. Here are a few tips for smoothing it out: when going to fill out the FAFSA, be sure you have your tax records and other personal financial information readily available, as you'll have to pull a lot of info from your 1040 to complete the FAFSA. If you have questions about the filing process, or about the sort of aid package you might receive, contact your aid counselor at the William Paterson University financial aid office: they'll be happy to help you out.

William Paterson University Financial Aid

Virtually every financial aid package handed out by schools has some mix of the four major components of aid: student loans, scholarships, work-study programs, and grants. These four pillars of student aid are often enough to satisfy the financial need of students at WPU: 52% of the student body takes out federal student loans, while 25% of the student body survives with just grants, scholarships, and work-study. A smaller portion of the student body receives all of this aid, but then is stuck with a gap between aid and the tuition bill: for these students who are short funding, private student loans are the common choice to bridge the tuition gap. If you need additional funding to make up the financial difference between your aid award and the total bill, check out our student loan comparison tool to search, compare, and apply for private student loans that are right for you.