Loans for American Students

Federal Aid is disbursed in equal amounts at the start of each term within the academic year. Once the money has been received by Arts University Bournemouth, any fees owing such as tuition fees and accommodation charges will be deducted. AUB will then contact the student to arrange a bank transfer of any remaining funds. You should ensure that you have sufficient funds from an alternative source to cover any costs until you receive your first disbursement.

Disbursement dates are normally one week after the start of the academic term. Please refer to our list of disbursement dates for 2024/25 for more information.

A private alternative loan is a non-government education loan, through a private lender, typically in the student’s name and requiring a cosigner. Approval and interest rates are based on the creditworthiness of the borrower and cosigner. Each alternative lender has different eligibility requirements, loan rates, terms, and conditions.

Students who are eligible for Federal student aid should complete the FAFSA and exhaust all Federal loans and scholarship opportunities, before applying for a private alternative loan. Federal student loans generally have more favourable terms and conditions than private loans. We recommend that you use all Federal loan eligibility before turning to private loans.

The University is willing to work with any lender who offers alternative educational loans to students enrolled at Foreign Institutions. Currently, we are aware of only two such lenders, Sallie Mae and Earnest, but students are advised to explore all options available to them and can opt to use any lender.

For more information about Sallie Mae's loan programs, visit salliemae.com and myglobaled.com.

More information about Earnest's loan programs can be found on their website.

Each academic year, the university establishes standard student budgets that use Cost of Attendance (COA) estimates for awarding financial aid funds. Your COA is provided to you once you have submitted your FAFSA application.

The budget reflects typical student expenses and consist of two basic components:

• Direct educational costs - tuition, fees, books, and supplies
• Indirect (maintenance) costs - accommodation, travel, UK visas and International Health Surcharge, and miscellaneous personal expenses

While your costs may vary depending on where you stay in Bournemouth, we expect your COA to be roughly in line with our estimates. Only reasonable costs essential to your studies will be considered.

Please note that the COA uses a hypothetical exchange rate, reviewed annually, to convert UK costs into US dollar borrowing amounts. The actual value of funds received will vary according to the exchange rate at the time of each disbursement.

Sample COA calculations for 2024/2025:

• First-year undergraduate (Bachelor's) students
• Second- and third-year undergraduate (Bachelor's) students
• Postgraduate (Master's) students

As loan funds are not disbursed until the end of the first week of the term, students and their families will need to plan for several out-of-pocket expenses that will need to be paid for before the loan funds are received. These can include:

• Tuition deposit to obtain visa documents (normally £500)
• Accommodation deposit
• Visa and International Health Surcharge fees (depending on length of programme can vary from £1,500 - £4,000)
• Flights and travel expenses to the UK (£1,000)
• Basic home goods for student accommodation (£100-£150)

These costs will be factored into the Cost of Attendance and students are eligible to borrow them. However, the funds will not be available in advance and can only be reimbursed once the student has begun studies.

For full details of AUB’s refund policy please see the AUB Return of Title IV Funds Policy.

AUB is bound by the requirements under 34 CFR 668.22 of the Federal Aid regulations.

Additional information on AUB Fees Payment Policy can be found on our fees and financial support page.

Details of AUB’s academic programme can be found on this website. AUB was awarded full taught degree awarding powers by the Privy Council of the UK Government in 2008 and was awarded full university status by the Privy Council in 2012. The Office for Students maintains a list of degree-granting institutions in the UK.

The U.S. Department of Education requires institutions of higher education to establish minimum standards of satisfactory academic progress for students receiving Federal aid. Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) means the student is proceeding in a positive manner toward fulfilling degree requirements. SAP includes two standards: qualitative and quantitative. Students must meet both standards to continue receiving financial aid.

For further information, refer to our detailed SAP Policy.

All Arts University Bournemouth staff working in the field of US Federal Financial Aid and Private Loans for US nationals are duty-bound to abide by the code of conduct stipulated by the US Government which prohibits: revenue-sharing arrangements with any lender; receiving gifts from lenders, guarantors, or loan servicers; contracting arrangement providing financial benefit from any lender or affiliate of a lender; directing borrowers to particular lenders, or refusing or delaying loan certifications; offers of funds for private loans; call centre or financial aid office staffing assistance or advisory board compensation.

For full information about the services and facilities available to students with disabilities, refer to our student support page.

All loans undertaken will be submitted to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS). This is a system that is accessible by servicers and schools determined to be authorised users of the data system.

Arts University Bournemouth will confirm your attendance online through the NSLDS as required by Federal regulations.

Exit counselling is required when a borrower is preparing to leave AUB. Exit counselling will educate the borrower about how to effectively manage and handle their student loan repayment. Exit Counselling can be completed online at www.studentloans.gov.

AUB is committed to assisting students in fully understanding their rights and responsibilities as they pertain to the US loan programs. The AUB Default Management Plan outlines the steps AUB will follow to help students stay compliant with Title VI regulations.

• Foundation Diploma in Art and Design – Gainful Employment Disclosure
• Foundation Diploma in Art and Design (Media Option) – Gainful Employment Disclosure

For full details about AUB’s copyright and scanning policy, please see here.

Where possible, the University publishes information for each of its courses (including graduation information, employment information and satisfaction information) using UNISTATS.

Retention rates for all Universities are published by HESA and can be found on their website.

For details of FERPA (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) please see below.

Arts University Bournemouth receives funds under an applicable programme of the US Department of Education programme; therefore, it is bound by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.

FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children’s education records. These rights transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of 18 or attends a school beyond the high school level. Students to whom the rights have transferred are “eligible students.”

• Parents or eligible students have the right to inspect and review the student’s education records maintained by the school.
• Parents or eligible students have the right to request that a school correct records which they believe to be inaccurate or misleading.
• Generally, schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student’s education record. However, there are certain conditions under which, FERPA allows schools to disclose those records, without consent.

For additional information, you can call 1-800-USA-LEARN (1-800-872-5327) or you can write to the following address:
Family Policy Compliance Office
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20202-8520

For any queries please contact student services at studentservices@aub.ac.uk.

All Arts University Bournemouth courses are listed on this website. Each course page is reviewed regularly by the course team to ensure that all of the representations made on the website are up-to-date and accurate. This includes but is not limited to fee charges, the nature of the course and its accreditation.

Information on the University’s completion and transfer-out rates is available from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). Due to the very low non-continuation rate, the University is unable to supply a breakdown of completion or transfer-out rates by gender, ethnicity, or recipients of need-based subsidised loans, as this may reveal personally identifiable information about an individual student, which would break the Data Protection Act 1998.

For the latest rates, please refer to HESA's website. In tables where information is available at an institutional level you can search for Arts University Bournemouth in the Provider section.

Institutions that participate in the Title IV Scheme and provide US Federal loans are required to disclose specific information. This information can be found on this website and is summarised in this document. Please contact the US loans team if you require further information about the content at USloans@aub.ac.uk.