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Loans for American Students

International

Loans for American Students

Here you'll find all you need to know about applying to AUB as an international student.

Loans for American Students

Eligible students from America will be pleased to know that United States Federal Loans (FAFSA) are available for you to study at Arts University Bournemouth.

Applying to join us in 2024/25

We participate in the US Department of Education’s Direct Loans programme. Eligible US students are able to access federally-subsidised Stafford and PLUS loans to help finance their studies with us. This page details how you apply for this financial support while at the AUB and other important aspects of the US Federal Student Aid system.

Eligibility

To receive aid, including Federal Direct Stafford and PLUS Loans, a student must meet the following eligibility requirements:

Must be a student enrolled or accepted for enrolment in an eligible programme at an eligible institution.

Must have a high school diploma.
Must be enrolled at least half-time for the period for which the loan is originated.
Must comply with the University's satisfactory academic progress policy.
Must be a US citizen or eligible non-citizen with a valid Social Security Number.
Must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) each year.
Must not be in default on an educational loan and must not owe a repayment on an adjusted federal grant.

Application process

Submit a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid): This is the application form through the US government website that initiates the process to borrow student loans. Each year, new and continuing students must complete a new FAFSA. Arts University Bournemouth’s school code is G35894. You must attach AUB’s school code to your application or AUB will not have access to your application to calculate your financial aid package.
Review documents sent by AUB US Loans team: Once AUB received your ISIR (the record of your FAFSA application) we will complete the review and send you a Cost of Attendance document along with an offer letter outlining what financial aid you are eligible to receive.
Sign and return paperwork: When AUB sends you the Cost of Attendance calculation and your Financial Aid Offer letter, review it, amend it (if appropriate), sign it, and return it to the university in a timely manner.
Complete entrance counselling, as required. A loan counselling session provides you with information that will help you understand your rights and responsibilities as a loan borrower, as well as other tools to assist you with managing your loans. This is required for all first-time borrowers receiving Stafford Loans and may be required for some parents/students receiving PLUS Loans.
Complete the necessary Master Promissory Notes (MPN): You and your Parent for a Parent PLUS loan must complete and e-sign the applicable MPNs for your loans. No funds can be requested if you don’t complete each MPN as required. Students and parents must do new MPNs each year - this is a requirement for all borrowers at a ‘foreign school’.
- Quick tips to completing MPNs:
  - Make sure to list Arts University Bournemouth (School Code G35894)
  - You’ll need your FSA ID (username and password) to complete the MPNs.
  - You must do separate MPN’s for PLUS and Stafford loans.
  - For PLUS loans a US postal address is needed to trigger the required credit check. An overseas address will automatically result in the credit check being pended. This can delay your funding.
Once the loans are successfully set up, we will be in touch with information about the disbursement process and dates.

Please note that AUB accepts no responsibility whatsoever for the repayment of your loan. It is your responsibility to repay the loan.

For further information on the process please contact the US loans team at usloans@aub.ac.uk.

Important information

When applying for a United States Federal Loans, please keep the following in mind. If you have any questions, contact the US Loans Team at usloans@aub.ac.uk.

For full AUB student policies and procedures, please visit our Regulations page. You can also view our Privacy Policy.

For the purposes of US financial aid, AUB is classified by the US government as a ‘foreign school’. This designation means that there are slightly different rules and categories of eligibility than you may be used to if you’ve taken out Federal Aid before.

Most programs of study at the University (including Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD programs) do qualify for funding, but there are exceptions.

You cannot receive US government loans if you attend any of the following:

Distance Learning Programmes
Diploma Programmes
Certificate Programmes
Your program includes a period of study in the US (may be some exceptions)

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:

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.

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's bound by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Refer to this page for more information on this act.

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.

Completion/graduation and transfer out rates

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.