US and Canadian loans

Students need to apply for their Federal Direct Loans through our Virtual Financial Aid Office (VFAO) interview, which will generally go live the beginning to middle of June. The Money Team will inform the student that the interview is live. The student can then complete the interview and the university checks the system weekly. The interview will normally be approved one week after.

Yes, you can cancel or change all or part of your loan before it has been paid. After the funds have been paid you can make changes within a certain time frame. Your master promissory note (MPN) will provide details of the procedure and time frames for cancelling your loans.

Before you do this, please contact the Money Team on USloans@leedsbeckett.ac.uk so we can guide you.

Please note that if you have a Plus Loan any increases in loan will have to be updated and agreed by your endorser and that the increase will only be allowed if you have not exceeded your cost of attendance.

MPN stands for master promissory note and is a legal document in which you, the student, promise to repay your loan(s) and any accrued interest and fees. The document will disclose the terms and conditions of your loan(s).

You will need to complete an MPN for each loan that you take out and should ensure it is for the correct school and year. You can apply for the MPN for different types of direct loans on the studentaid.gov website.

You must apply for your loans every year through the FAFSA and complete the MPN and entrance counselling for each year.

Your COA refers to the costs associated with completing your studies for one academic year. If you are in receipt of any bursaries or scholarships these will be deducted off the COA. The costs relate to you, the student, and include:

• Course tuition fees
• Accommodation costs
• General living costs
• Travel expenses

For the most up-to-date version of these costs, please see our Cost of Attendance page.

The costs cannot include costs for a partner but some costs can be included for children (childcare only). The COA is set at the beginning of the year and students cannot borrow more than this.

The EFC stands for the ‘Expected Family Contribution’ and is shown on your Student’s Aid Report (SAR). The SAR is generated once an FAFSA has been completed. The EFC is used to determine ‘need’ and therefore it limits the amount of Subsidised loan that can be borrowed. You can borrow up to the full cost of attendance, even if there is a high EFC, by using the Unsubsidised and Plus loans.

The school cannot amend the EFC even if your family is not contributing to your studies.

This is a fee charged by the US Department of Education to cover all administrative costs, relating to your Federal Loans. The charge may vary from year to year. The current charge is documented in the ‘How to apply for your US Loan’ section.

Entrance and exit counselling are online courses which will highlight your responsibilities and obligations associated with the Federal Loans. Counselling for both is mandatory and if not undertaken will result in any loans not being disbursed. Exit counselling will be undertaken at the end of every academic year.

When you have graduated, left school or dropped below half-time enrolment, there will be a six-month grace period before you are required to begin repaying your loan(s). During this time your loan servicer will be in touch with you to provide you with repayment information and notify you of the first payment due date.

If you find yourself unable to make the scheduled loan payments, you will need to contact your loan servicer immediately. They can then go through your options to ensure that your loan is kept in good standing. Find out more on the studentaid.gov website.