Frequently Asked Questions

We strongly advise you to open a UK bank account as this makes everything easier for you. A number of high street banks allow you to open up an account while overseas. Alternatively, you could use an online bank.

Further information on how to sign up for electronic transfer will be emailed to you following the origination of your US Federal Loan.

You will be contacted around 30 days prior to each disbursement date and have the opportunity to amend or cancel your disbursement up to seven days prior to the disbursement date. If you have not taken the maximum available, you can increase your loans at any time. If you wish to decrease your loans and the funds have already been released, you may incur charges.

As a foreign institution Aberystwyth University does not complete the 1098-T tax form for students. However, students are advised to request a Tuition Fee Statement, which may be used for tax purposes, from the fees department.

Accessing Your Loan History

Your Financial Aid History can be accessed at https://studentaid.gov. Loan History can be found under My Info → My Aid → Scroll Down to Loan Breakdown → Click View Loans (can be found under each loan servicer you have).  On here you can see detailed information about the federal loan types and amounts you received for each academic year, and loan servicer contact information for each loan. The U.S. Department of Education works with various loan servicer companies assigned to a student’s loan to handle the billing and other services on the U.S. Department of Education’s behalf. Do not be confused these are still federal loans given out by the U.S. Department of Education.

Loan Repayment

Your loans may go into repayment after a six-month grace period which will begin with the date that you ceased to be enrolled as a full-time student. Before the grace period ends, the lenders/servicers will contact you and provide you with several loan repayment options. If you’re enrolled in an eligible college or career school at least half-time, in most cases your loan will be placed into a deferment automatically. If you enrol at least half-time but do not automatically receive a deferment, you should contact the school where you are enrolled. Your school will then report information about your enrolment status so that your loan can be placed into deferment.

Students should follow the university's process of withdrawal here. If there are any changes to your study, please also contact us to let us know. More information on withdrawal and R2T4 can be found on our page.

Yes, you can receive federal aid while on a year or semester of study abroad or industry.

U.S. Federal Financial Aid regulations allow for 25% of a student’s degree duration to be at a partner university who also participates in the distribution of U.S. Federal Loans. This means if you are on a four-year degree scheme such as and Integrated Year Abroad or Integrated Year in Industry, one of those four years can be covered by U.S. Federal Financial Aid.

PLEASE BE AWARE, tuition during your year abroad goes down to 15-25% of your yearly tuition. This is a significant drop in tuition which means you can expect a drop in the cost of attendance and therefore in the amount you are eligible in loans. This can be discussed once your financial package is created.

Your U.S. Federal Loans can cover your on-campus accommodation.

This is a question asked during the federal loan process with Aberystwtyth University. We ask on your Loan Request how you plan to pay for accommodation, if you choose U.S. Federal Loans, we then let finance know they will need to take out payment the day of disbursement. If a student misses answering this question they risk being charged on the credit card, they are required to enter when signing up for accommodation through the accommodation portal.

To cover off-campus accommodations, students can ask up to the maximum amount of loans. The university will take out any institutional fees (tuition) from the disbursement and send the surplus amount to the student/parent. Students can then use this surplus amount to pay for their educational needs including off-campus housing.

First year Aberystwyth University students can also benefit from the International Accommodation Award, which gives students free accommodation who choose to live in our on-campus Cwrt Mawr housing. The University offers a variety of accommodation buildings, but the housing scholarship applies only to Cwrt Mawr and only for the first year of study. From the second year of study onwards, students must pay the standard rate for their accommodation choice. 

The U.S. Department of Education charges a small fee when your loan is created. This is called an origination fee. You can see this in your Funding Confirmation Letter.

In that letter, you will see two amounts:

• Gross amount – the total loan you asked for
• Net amount – the actual amount you will receive after the fee is taken off

The net amount is what you should expect to get.

Your loan is sent in U.S. dollars, but it must be changed into British pounds before being used to pay for your tuition or accommodation.

The exchange rate (how dollars are converted to pounds) can change daily, and we do not control it. It is set by financial markets and other factors.

After each payment (disbursement), the Finance Department will send you a breakdown. This will show:

• How much was sent in U.S. dollars
• The exchange rate used
• How much you received in British pounds
• How much was taken for tuition and/or accommodation

You should check that:

• The net amount from your loan matches the amount sent to the university
• Then look at how it was converted into pounds and used

If you want to check how much tuition is still left to pay:

1. Look at how much has been taken from your loan for tuition
2. Subtract that from your total yearly tuition cost

It’s a good idea to save all your loan emails and documents in one place so you can easily find them later.

If you think a mistake ahs been made with your disbursements, please contact us.