INFORMATION FOR PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS

Cost

1.1 Calculating Your Cost of Attendance

The Cost of Attendance (CoA) is the amount of money a student needs to pay their tuition fees, living expenses and course materials for an academic year.

The living expenses and course materials are up to a maximum of £17,500 for full-time graduates (52 weeks), £13,635 for full-time undergraduates (39 weeks).

Most students will need a combination of loans (Subsidised, Unsubsidised and PLUS loans) to cover the full CoA. Half-time students will be eligible for 50% of the living and course material costs.

1.2 Breakdown

The weekly breakdown of living and course costs are as follows:

1.3 Estimated Family Contribution

The Estimated Family Contribution  (EFC) is based on the information you provided in the FAFSA about you or your family’s income for the year prior to the year for which you are requesting the loan. This is the amount of funding that your U.S Department of Education expects you and your family to contribute towards funding your studies.  The EFC only effects the Direct Subsidised loan eligibility.

1.4 Effective Financial Aid

The Effective Financial Aid (EFA) is any other institutional funding you are expecting to receive to fund your studies. This includes scholarships, grants, bursaries (ex. Veterans Affairs Benefits). You are required to inform the UCL Student Funding Office about any funding you have secured for your studies at UCL. 

1.5 Loan Entitlement

The following formulas are used to calculate loan entitlements:

*Within maximum annual and aggregate loan borrowing limits. 

1.6 Workout your own estimate CoA

Using the CoA Calculator you can calculate your own estimate CoA. You will need your tuition fee rate available. Please note: living and course material costs can not exceed the limits mentioned above.

UCL will not know you have applied for Direct Loans until you submit your application pack to the UCL Student Funding Office.

UCL will start processing 2013/2014 Direct Loan applications in May 2013.

Please follow the step-by-step instructions below in order to make an application:-

2.1 Complete Your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)

You will need to complete the FAFSA, this can be done online at www.fafsa.ed.gov. You will need the following information to successfully complete the application:

• A Federal Student Aid PIN. For queries contact Federal Student Aid PIN;
• Your Social Security Number;
• Your tax return (if you filed one);
• Your parents’ income tax return for the past year (dependent students only);
• UCL’s Federal School Code G06695 (or 00669500).

After the U.S. Department of Education processes your FAFSA, you will receive a Student Aid Report (SAR). Please retain the SAR for your records and be prepared to provide it to us if we ask.

2.2  Master Promissory Notes

Each year a Master Promissory Note (MPN) must be completed for the Direct Subsidised/Unsubsidised Loan and another, separate MPN for the Direct PLUS Loan. MPNs completed for other schools and previous school years are invalid. Please complete the MPN electronically via the U.S Student Loans website. To complete a Direct Loan MPN electronically you must have your Federal Student Aid PIN. After you complete your MPN(s), please send us a PDF copy in your application pack.

2.3 Entrance Counseling

All applicants must complete Direct Loan Entrance Counseling each year. You can complete Direct Loan Entrance Counseling electronically via the U.S Student Loans website, you will need your Federal Student Aid PIN. After you complete your entrance counseling, please send us a copy of the notification with your application pack.

2.4 PLUS Loan and Credit Check

To request a PLUS loan please complete the Direct PLUS request electronically via the U.S Student Loans website, you will need your Federal Student Aid PIN. After you complete your Direct PLUS Request, the U.S Department of Education will conduct the credit check and notify you of the results. Please enclose the notification of outcome of the credit check letter in your application pack.
Please note that we cannot guarantee to process your application within the 90 days validity of the credit check, so you might be required to request a new one, or one might be automatically requested for you.

2.5 Application Pack to send to UCL

Please download and complete the Direct Loan Cover Sheet. Please ensure you have worked out your estimate Cost of Attendance by completing the Cost of Attendance Calculator, you will need your tuition fee rate available here.  If you are not sure how much you are eligible to borrow, but wish to borrow the maximum amount available to you, please enter 'maximum' in the amount section (section 3).

You must include the following documents in your application pack as PDF files:

• Direct Loan Cover Sheet;
• Copy of Entrance Counseling completion report;
• Copy of MPN for each loan (for example - if you are applying for the Sub/Unsub loan and the PLUS loan you will need to include a copy of both MPNs);
• Copy of PLUS loan credit check notification (PLUS loan applicants only).

Please email the above documents to us-cdn-loans@ucl.ac.uk and use the subject line "Direct Loan Application Pack"

Incomplete applications will not be processed

2.6 UCL's Confirmation to You

After we review your application for a Direct Loan, we will contact you by email confirming the loans available to you. We will then issue you with a Notification of Student Loans letter, which has been approved by the UK Border Agency as proof of student funding, only the original copy will be acceptable. The letter will detail the loan funds available to you and the disbursement dates. This letter is only valid for 30 days for visa applications, so we will not send it out until late June.

You will also receive a separate letter confirming the same information for your records and a reply slip which you will need to sign and return to the Student Funding Office before your loans can be requested from the U.S Department of Education. 

3.1 Disbursement Dates

Direct Loans are disbursed by the U.S. Department of Education electronically to UCL. The funds will be disbursed in three equal instalments at the start of each term;
23 September 2013, 13 January 2014 and 28 April 2014. The funds usually take between one to two working days to arrive at UCL. Please note the first disbursement will not be requested until you have enrolled at UCL. Funds may not be disbursed until 30 days after the start of the academic year for first time undergraduate borrowers.

3.2 Loan Fees

The U.S. Department of Education applies a 1.051% fee charge on Direct Subsidised and Unsubsidised loans, 4.204% on Direct Plus loans. UCL does not charge any loan fees. UCL’s third party agent Western Union, acts on our behalf receiving the USD loan funds and converts this into the equivalent GBP according to their daily exchange rate.

3.3 Paying Your Tuition Fees

Loan funding will first be used by the Student Fees Office to pay the first third of your tuition fees (U.S. students with Direct Loans are allowed to pay their tuition fees in three instalments at the start of each term). Any credit balance due will be available to you within three to five working days.

3.4 Receiving Your Living and Course Materials Funding

As loan funds will not be requested until you enrol at UCL, please ensure you have sufficient money to cover your living and course costs until you receive your first loan disbursement. The first refund payment will be made by GBP cheque only, the Student Fees Office will email your UCL email account only when this is available for collection. Further instructions for the second and third payments by bank transfer via our third party agent Western Union will be provided at this point.

Dependent on your bank account, cheques will normally take between three to five working days for funds to clear. Where possible we advise all students to open a UK bank account, so you can have easy access to your funds and avoid any possible bank charges incurred when using your USD bank account in the UK.

The U.S. Department of Education stipulate that the following regulations apply:

4.1 Satisfactory Academic Progress Review

You must be in good standing and maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) each term according to UCL's Academic Regulations. A Satisfactory Academic Progress review form must be completed and returned by your tutor before the 2nd and 3rd disbursements are released to you. The UCL SAP policy is available here.

4.2 Counseling

Entrance and Exit Counseling must be completed at the appropriate times. All new students who have not received a FFEL Stafford Loan or Direct Loan must complete entrance counseling prior to any funds being requested from the U.S. Department of Education. All final-year students must complete exit counseling in their last term at UCL. If students withdraw early from their programme, they must complete exit counseling and any unearned funding must be returned to the U.S. Department of Education.

4.3 Programs/Study Periods outside the UK

Any student on a programme based in the U.S. will not be eligible for Direct Loans.

Any unit of a programme based in the U.S. will make the student ineligible for Direct Loans for that duration.

Graduate research students on study leave based in the U.S. are not eligible for Direct Loans.

The only exception to this federal regulation is that PhD students can spend a year in the U.S. whilst in CRS (i.e. writing up).

Students on a course which is predominantly offered as "distance learning", that is one where your enrolment status is "non-resident", will not be eligible to receive federal loans or Veterans Affairs benefits (i.e. G.I. Bill).

4.4 Course Duration

Students must complete their programme within a time frame of no longer than 150% of the published length of the course. We will be unable to certify a loan application, unless exceptional circumstances apply.

4.5 Changes to Enrolment Status

If there are any changes to your enrolment status (e.g. if you withdraw or change from full-time to half-time) you must inform the Student Funding Office. This will affect your loan eligibility and we will need to re-calculate your Cost of Attendance based on your new student status. If you withdraw early from your programme you must complete exit counseling and any unearned funding must be returned to the U.S. Department of Education according to their guidelines. The policy on returning US loan funds is available here.

4.6 Additional Funding

Students are required to inform the Student Funding Office of any additional institutional funding (expected or received) before and after their student loan entitlement is calculated. This includes scholarships, grants or bursaries but excludes your own funds or gifts/loans from family. Please email us-cdn-loans@ucl.ac.uk with any such information.

4.7 Borrowers Right to Cancel

Students will be notified by email 14 working days before each loan disbursement is requested, and have 14 working days to change/cancel any expected loan disbursements. After this period has expired students will be responsible for returning any unwanted funds to either the U.S. Department of Education or the Loan Servicer.

5.1 Deferment of an Existing Loan

If you are enrolled in full/half-time study, you can defer payment of your outstanding student loans. We automatically submit enrolment data to the National Student Clearinghouse and National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) who confirm student enrolment to all loan servicers. If you still require a deferment form to be completed, please request a deferment form from your Loan Servicer and submit it to the Student Funding Office by email: us-cdn-loans@ucl.ac.uk.

Please note deferment forms will not be signed until you are enrolled at UCL.

5.2 Loan Repayment, Grace Periods and Consolidating Loans

• Advice from the US Department of Education on what happens with your loans when you are no longer studying.
  

5.3 Useful websites:

• Direct Loans information and guide
  
• FAFSA
• Apply for Federal Student Loans
• UCL: UK Visas Information
• UCL: Information for prospective international students

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6.1 Other Sources of Funding:

• UCL Scholarships
• U.S Veteran Benefits including Post-9/11 GI Bill
• Private Student Loans

These are student loans for provided by a private, non-federal, lenders. There are many US private lenders but very few will lend to students studying outside the US. You can check if your state has a non-federal student loans agency which can lend to students abroad. A private company which US students studying at UCL have used recently is Sallie Mae.

UCL has no affiliation with and receives no financial incentives from Sallie Mae or any other private lender. 

The lending terms for federal loans may be preferable to private loans.  See the Dept of Education website for a guide.

Our role in the private loans process is to confirm your Cost of Attendance and certify your enrolment. A copy of your loan certification form will be available from us on request. 

Reading lists

Your academic department will issue you with lists of recommended reading for each module, there are no required book purchases.

Federal loan and Tuition Fee refund policies

If you interrupt your studies or withdraw these policies describe the process by which any refunds are calculated and paid: Tuition Fee Refunds. Federal Loan Refunds.

Effect on federal funding of drug related convictions

If you are convicted of a drug related offence whilst receiving federal student aid you could lose your eligibility for that funding. Further details can be found on the Dept of Education website.

Copyright policy

Unauthorised distribution of copyrighted material may be subject to civil and criminal liabilities. This includes copyright infringement using on-line peer to peer file sharing.

You can find details of UCL's policy on copyright protection and the possible consequences of infringement here.

You can find details of UCL's computer use policy and the possible consequences of infringement here.

Right to review educational records

Each student at UCL will be able to see their educational record on Portico and can approach their department for full details.

Student retention rates and destination data

All student retention and graduate placement data for all UK Universities can be found at the Higher Education Statistics Agency web page: Performance Indicators in Higher Education in the UK

For student retention rates see: Tables T3a and T5 (for the methodology click here)

For leaver's employment destinations see: Table E1
(for the methodology click here)