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Find out how your US Loans will be disbursed, how you will receive the funds and further information on exchange rates and fees
Disbursement Dates
Direct Loans are disbursed by the US Department of Education electronically to UCL. The funds will be requested in two equal instalments:
The first instalment will be 25 September 2023.
The second instalment will be at the mid-point of your academic year. This date will be confirmed to you in your preliminary loan confirmation.
Please note the first disbursement will not be requested in the first term until you have enrolled at UCL and in subsequent terms until we have received Satisfactory Academic Progress reports for you.
Loan Fees
The U.S. Department of Education applies a fee charge on Direct Subsidised, Unsubsidised and Direct Plus loans. To review these fees please visit The Student Aid Government Website. UCL does not charge any loan fees. If you choose to take out a PLUS Loan, these loan fees will be included as part of your Cost of Attendance, so please be aware that the overall figure you choose will have loan fees deducted. UCL’s third-party agent Convera, acts on our behalf receiving the USD loan funds and converts this into the equivalent GBP according to their daily exchange rate.
Paying Your Tuition Fees
Loan funding will first be used by the Student Fees Office to pay half of your tuition fees (US students with Direct Loans are allowed to pay their tuition fees in two instalments corresponding with the above disbursement schedule - please ignore any general information from UCL advising otherwise). Any credit balance due will be available to you within 10 working days of the disbursement date.
As students with US Federal Loans receive their loan in 2 equal disbursements, their fee payment schedule is different than other students. US Loan students must pay their tuition fees in 2 instalments, rather than 3. For those who are using Federal Loans to pay for some of their tuition fees (and paying the rest themselves), you can contact us after each loan disbursement to see how much you have left to pay in that instalment. The deadlines for paying these instalments are set by the UCL Fees team.
Please note, your overall Federal Loan amounts will not show up on the UCL Portico system. You will only see tuition fee amounts paid by the loans.
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. All payments will be made by direct bank transfer via our third-party agent Convera, who will contact you directly to collect your bank details shortly before the first disbursment is due. 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.
Exchange Rate
We are aware that the US Dollar-Sterling exchange rate may fluctuate over the course of the academic year. However, we will not be able to change a cost of attendance assessment based on any fluctuation in this exchange rate during the academic year. The exchange rate is set by Convera at the time of disbursement, and cannot be altered. The cost of currency conversion is a necessary cost when studying at an overseas insitution such as UCL.