US Loans Costs

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

Your Cost of Attendance (CoA)

Your living expenses depend on whether you intend to live on campus or off campus. For example, if you plan to live on campus, you can borrow up to a maximum of £31,219 if you are a full-time graduate (52 weeks) and £24,212 if you are a full-time undergraduate (39 weeks). You will need to add your tuition fees to this to determine your maximum CoA.

Most students will need a combination of Direct Loans (Subsidized/Unsubsidized/PLUS loans) to cover the full CoA. Students studying less than full time will be eligible for a corresponding percentage of their living costs.

Breakdown of Costs

The maximum you can request for living expenses and course materials stated is broken down as follows:

Item	Maximum cost
Housing (on campus)	£309 per week
Housing (off campus)	£257 per week
Transportation	£43 per week
Food	£94 per week
Personal	£60 per week
Course materials	£22 per week
Computing supplies	£11 per week
International flights x 2	£1,925 per year
Visa application fee	£490
Health surcharge fee	£776 per year
Loan origination fees	Visit the Federal Student Aid website for information on origination fees. These fees are deducted at source by the US Dept of Education and will be added to your cost of attendance

Special cricumstances

Living and course costs cannot usually exceed the limits stated above, except in exceptional costs where we can consider a higher budget on a case by case basis. Examples of exceptional costs can include medical, disability related, childcare and additional course costs. We can also consider requests to change your FAFSA status from dependent to independent in certain situations. After you have received your initial loan approval notification from us, please contact us to discuss your circumstances.

Direct Loans incur fees and interest and must be repaid so do not borrow more than you need.

Student Aid Index (SAI)

The Student Aid Index (SAI) affects Direct Subsidized loan eligibility (undergraduates only) and is based on the information provided in your FAFSA about you or your family’s income for the year prior-prior to the year for which you are requesting the loan. This is the amount of funding that the U.S Department of Education expects you and your family to contribute towards funding your studies.

Other Financial Assistance (OFA)

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

Loan Entitlement

The following formulas are used to calculate loan entitlements:

Direct Subsidized Loan eligibility	= CoA - (SAI + OFA)*
Direct Unsubsidized Loan eligibility	= CoA - OFA (inc. Direct Subsidized Loan)*
Direct PLUS Loan eligibility	= CoA - OFA (inc. Direct Subsidized, Unsubsidized and any other expected funding)

*Within maximum annual and aggregate loan borrowing limits.