Applying for Financial Aid

Sarah Lawrence College awards a limited number of competitive merit-based scholarships each year.  Applicants from all programs, except Human Genetics, who want to be considered for scholarships and fellowships will be ask to fill out the Graduate Application for Institutional Aid. Please note that the process is different for Human Genetics applicants because of the program’s participation in the Match process. Please see the Human Genetics Scholarships and Fellowships section below for more details.

Many of our scholarships also require you to submit a FAFSA and/or financial documentation. Applicants who do not have a US social security number can submit translated documentation of income. Please consider at the time you apply whether or not you have the funds necessary for all years of your education.  

A FAFSA is also required to be eligible to receive US federal loans.

Application Process

In order to be considered for Sarah Lawrence institutional aid, you must answer "Yes" to the question on the graduate application in the Financial Aid section that asks “Do you want to be considered for scholarships and fellowships?”

If you indicate on your application that you would like to be considered for scholarships, we will contact you after we receive your application with an overview of next steps, and we will send you the Graduate Application for Institutional Aid, which you will be required to complete.

We would recommend that you review the list of available scholarships and fellowships in advance. You will be asked to indicate which institutional awards you want to be considered for on the Graduate Application for Institutional Aid. You may select more than one award on the application form, but please note that they are highly competitive and typically cannot be stacked. This means you are likely to be awarded only one scholarship or fellowship even if you have applied for more than one.

Many awards require that you submit a FAFSA and/or financial documentation by the financial aid deadline in order for us to consider you for the award. 

We will make decisions on institutional aid as part of the admission review proces. If you are admitted to Sarah Lawrence, you can expect to receive a financial aid letter that details any institutional aid and US federal loans you are eligible to receive along with your offer of admission.

Human Genetics Applicants

Most Human Genetics scholarships are awarded as part of the Match process and there is no separate scholarship application for students applying to the Human Genetics program. The Warren Alpert Foundation Scholarship requires an essay. If you are selected to interview for the program, you will be given information about Sarah Lawrence institutional aid as well as the opportunity to apply to the WAF AID-GC scholarship. Some Human Genetics scholarships require you to submit a FAFSA and/or financial documentation in order for you to be eligible to match for those awards.

Guidance on Completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)

• The FAFSA can be found here online on the studentaid.gov website.
• Sarah Lawrence’s FAFSA Code is 002813.
• US citizens, nationals, and permanent residents must complete this online application to determine eligibility for federal aid.
• Use the FSA ID Info Sheet created by the Department of Education to set-up a secure username and password.
• Students are encouraged to use the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) if eligible. Otherwise, applicants must submit a copy of their federal tax return through the SLC application portal.
• As graduate students are considered independent for financial aid purposes, there is no need to provide parents’ financial information. Married applicants do need to provide their spouse’s data.
• Additional documents may be requested.