One of the final steps in completing the FAFSA is supplying UWTSD’s US Dept of Education federal university/school code. UWTSD school code: 012341 00 (or G12341) Contact details If you have any questions, please email Money Support

Course Eligibility Our eligibility certificate with the US Department for Education permits us to provide Federal Student Aid for the following: 

• Undergraduate Courses 

• Postgraduate Courses 

Certificate and diploma programs are not eligible for Federal Student Aid. 

Please note that there are some courses that are not eligible for Federal Student Aid. We will advise you if this is the case when we assess your FAFSA. 

The following is a list of the types of courses that are not eligible for Federal Student Aid: 

• Courses with a compulsory study abroad year. 

• Courses including a mandatory work placement or Professional Placement. This includes sandwich courses. 

• Courses delivered at partner institutions 

• Courses taught at the Birmingham and Outreach campuses • Distance learning courses. 

• Part-time or Low Residency courses. 

Programs that do not qualify for Federal Student Aid may still qualify for Private Student Loans.

Students here on a Study Abroad programme who are registered at a US university are not eligible to apply for financial aid through UWTSD. You should instead apply to your ‘home’ university.

How You Apply FAFSA applications for the academic year 2024/25 can be submitted from January 2024, however, UWTSD will not start processing FAFSA applications until 27 May 2024 – we will deal with applications in the order we receive them. 

You must have been offered a place on a course by UWTSD and accepted that place before we will process your application for Federal Student Aid. We recommend that you submit your application to us no later than 31 July 2024 in order to enable us to process your application in time for you to apply for a visa. 

If you are continuing student we will process your FAFSA at a later time as we have to give priority to new applicants who are applying for a student visa for the first time.

Applying for aid 

1. Fill in a FAFSA application 

2. Check your Student Aid Report 

Once FAFSA has processed your information you will be emailed a copy of your Student Aid Report (SAR). Please review the information carefully and ensure that it includes an EFC (estimated family contribution) and the details of any previous loans. 

If any information is missing or there are comments stating further information is required, you will need to make corrections and re-submit your application. If there is a C shown next to the EFC, further information will be required. Check the comments codes and make any necessary corrections. In some cases, we may need to ask you to provide documentary evidence (such as proof of US citizenship). 

The electronic version of the SAR should be available to us in 72 hours (3 days) after submittal. 

Please email the Financial Aid Officer to let us know that you have submitted an application so that we can draw down the SAR in a timely manner: moneysupport@uwtsd.ac.uk 

Calculated cost of attendance: If you have been offered a place on a course University and have firmly accepted the offer, we will send you a calculated cost of attendance and details of the loans for which you are eligible, along with instructions on what you need to do next. Please be aware that we will not be issuing cost of attendances to students who have not accepted our offer of a place.

The loans available are:

The maximum amount of subsidised and unsubsidised loans is as follows: Dependent undergraduates (students aged 24 and under):

Independent undergraduates (students aged over 24 or those whose parents are refused a Parent PLUS Loan):

Graduate and professional students:

The lifetime aggregates are $65,500 (subsidised) and $138,500 (combined subsidised and unsubsidized). 

You may not borrow more than this total amount. Federal Direct Parent and Grad PLUS Loans may be used as supplemental funding when subsidised and unsubsidised loan maximums are reached. 

As always, the total amount you may borrow in student loans for any academic year is limited to your annual calculated cost of attendance minus all other sources of funding.

Please note that you are not able to borrow more than your total estimated costs of attendance (CoA). 

• Undergraduate courses typically have a 39-week academic year. 

• Postgraduate (graduate and professional) courses typically have a 52-week academic year.

This is an estimated cost of attendance. The tuition fees shown above are only for illustration and will vary depending on your course. 

The estimated cost of attendance for your course at the start of your application based on the information on your Student Aid report. 

Loan origination fees can also be included in the cost of attendance (we include them automatically in the information we will send you). 

* Please note that the exchange rate shown is for illustration only and is set once a year for the cost of attendance (normally in May). The actual exchange rate used when processing disbursements will be dependent on the market rate on the day the funds are processed. 

Please note you are not able to borrow more than your total calculated cost of attendance (CoA).

We will use the information submitted in your FAFSA and your offer letter, to determinate your eligibility for Federal Student

The standardised costs are set out against your student status. Dependent Undergraduate, Independent Undergraduate or a Graduate. See the Loan Types section for definitions of ‘dependent’ and ‘independent’ undergraduate students

Depending on your status, you may also be eligible for a Direct PLUS Loan award. If you are a graduate/professional student, you may be eligible for a Direct PLUS Loan; if you are a dependant undergraduate student, your parent may be eligible for a Direct Parent PLUS loan.

Your eligibility will also depend upon your intended program of study, Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) stated on your SAR and other funding available to you such as awarded scholarships.

Once the calculation has been completed the Cost of Attendance document and Certification Calculation for the maximum total loans allowed this year will be emailed to you, along with an offer letter detailing your eligibility for the different loan types and the amounts you can borrow.

The offer letter will include the steps you need to follow in order for your loan(s) to be processed in a timely manner. Please read this thoroughly. You will need to: 

1. Confirm the amount you wish to borrow and return a signed copy of the offer letter to the university 

2. Complete the loan application/s and entrance counselling and credit check (for PLUS loans) 

3. Ensure that you have signed a Master Promissory Note for Direct Subsidised/Unsubsidised Loans; 

4. Provide a screenshot confirming you have completed Entrance Counselling (please be aware that ‘Financial Awareness Counselling’ is NOT acceptable) even if you have done it in a previous year – it is good practice to do this every year as it reminds you of your responsibilities in the Direct Loan Scheme; and 

5. Sign a PLUS Master Promissory Note and provide a screenshot of the credit check acceptance if you will be using a PLUS Loan,

You do all of this online at studentaid.gov. You sign into this site using the same PIN that you used to sign your FAFSA.

Please remember that if you have been awarded a scholarship from the university to cover all or part of your tuition fees, you will need to let us know about the award at this stage so we can reduce your tuition fee amount on your cost of attendance to reflect your scholarship award.

We don’t always know in advance whether you have been awarded a scholarship so your cost of attendance could be calculated on the basis that you are liable to pay the full tuition fee amount. If this happens, you will be wrongly approved for a higher cost of attendance however when your scholarship appears on your account later on in the academic year, we will then have to reduce your loans. We do not have any discretion on this.

Please be aware that as an international student, you may be subject to Maintenance Requirements.

If you do not send everything we need, we will not be able to originate your loans. 

1. Loan certification 

2. Disbursing (paying) the loan 

3. Undergraduate and graduate students will receive two disbursements (one per semester). 

When you have completed steps 1 to 3, we will originate your loans on the system and once they are confirmed we will e-mail you a US Federal Direct loan certificate. 

In order to ensure that your first disbursement is made on time and that you have enough time to apply for your visa we strongly recommend that you complete your loan application no later than 31 July 2024 for courses starting in September. 

For students on a standard, September start, academic year, the earliest disbursement dates will be as follows: 

From each disbursement (after it has been exchanged into £ GBP) we will deduct an amount towards tuition, accommodation (if you are in University accommodation) and any other charges incurred, and the remainder will be forwarded to you. You will need to open a UK bank account to avoid having to pay two foreign exchange charges.

You will receive an email notification approximately 14 days prior to each disbursement, in line with Federal regulations concerning your right to cancel. Once the disbursement has been made and we have deducted your fees, you will receive a confirmation of any refund that will be deposited into your bank account with a breakdown of how we have allocated the disbursement.

Please note that it can take up to 14 days after the disbursement date for you to receive your refund. For example, for a disbursement date of 5 October, any refund will be paid to you by 21 October.

We work with a Foreign Exchange Provider to secure a competitive exchange rate for each disbursement linked to the market rate at the time. Therefore each disbursement will be for a different amount in £ GBP.

While in receipt of Federal Student Loans for the loan period outlined on your loan application, you are required to be enrolled on your programme of study and to maintain satisfactory academic progress. Satisfactory academic progress means maintaining an average of at least C grades (50%) over the current academic year. Please note that this is a higher standard than the University’s pass mark for undergraduate students. We will check your progress before releasing loan funds. 

For more information please refer to our Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy.

If you withdraw from your course, suspend your study or drop below at least 50% enrolment, you must inform the Financial Aid office (Student Funds) in the Student Life Centre no later than five working days after withdrawal in addition to notifying your course office. 

If a student who receives financial aid withdraws from their course or drops below 50% attendance, we will recalculate your financial aid eligibility based on your period of attendance. This could mean that you have to pay back money received from Federal Stafford or Plus loans you may have received. The University may also have to repay funds received for tuition and/or accommodation to the US Federal Government. In this case, you may become liable for additional fee payments to the University in order to replace these funds

Any calculation will be undertaken in line with the rules set by the US Department of Education and cannot be amended in any way.

It is a legal requirement that all students who have received Federal loan(s) and have graduated or withdrawn from their programme of study, or dropped below 50% attendance, complete exit counselling. This is done through the Student Aid gateway. Please go to the site and follow the instructions for Stafford Loan and /or PLUS Loan exit counselling. 

It is your responsibility to repay your loans, in the same way, that you have to repay a bank loan or a mortgage. When you leave your course you will enter a six-month grace period (this does not apply to PLUS loans that go into repayment immediately, but you can request a deferment). 

There are a number of repayment options available and you should discuss these with your loan servicer to determine which is the most appropriate for you. If you do not select a repayment plan you will be placed on the standard plan with fixed repayments for up to ten years. You can find details of your loan servicer on the NSLDS website. 

Further details about repayment plans, including interactive calculators, can be found on the Federal Student Aid website.

Students who are unable to take out US federal loans or who do not meet the criteria for a US federal loan can borrow from private lenders in the US. For instance, students wishing to study a course that is not approved for federal US loans (PGCE), or students on distance learning courses based in the US but enrolled on a UK degree course at UWTSD. 

We advise that if you are eligible for US federal loans, you investigate these before applying for a US private student loan, as federal loans are often cheaper and most American students are eligible for them. Please note that US private student loans do not enable you to borrow more funds than US federal loans. 

The University will work with whichever private lender you decide to use, please be aware that the number of private lenders currently servicing the UK is limited. 

• If you wish to apply for a private US student loan, please email us. 

• associate degree programs (in the UK these are known as foundation degrees); 

• bachelors degree programs; 

• masters degree and doctoral programs; and 

• first professional degree programs.