We have to adhere to US regulations, which state that the maximum you can receive in loans cannot exceed the yearly cost of attendance less any other financial aid you may be receiving. You may apply for additional aid through a Professional Judgement for special or unusual circumstances.
Some courses such as Clinical Medicine, Veterinary Medicine/Science, Diploma, Certificate, EMBA and MAC courses are not eligible for federal loans. Some part-time courses may also not be eligible. If you are studying any of these courses and require a loan, a Private Loan may be an option.
Only apply for the amount that you will need, a loan is a financial burden that has to be paid back with interest, and interest is charged on all your loans.
Note that if you subsequently receive additional financial aid that takes you over the cost of attendance after your loans have been certified in our office, we will have to reduce your loans accordingly.
Please download and fully complete the relevant cost of attendance spreadsheet:
- First Year Postgraduate Students (PhD, MPhil, M.A.St, LLM) 25-26
- 2nd, 3rd and 4th Year PhD Students 25-26
- MBA Students 25-26
- Undergraduate - Independent 25-26
- Undergraduate - Dependent 25-26
The University's retention policy can be found via Records Management | Information Compliance (cam.ac.uk). Section 2 and section 5 explain how long we will retain your cost of attendance spreadsheet for.
For 1st year postgraduate students the conditional offer letter you receive once you have been made an offer details your cost of attendance. Undergraduates, you will be informed by your college of your yearly cost of attendance. MBA students, please refer to 'Fees' and 'Living Expenses' on the Judge Business School website.
In addition to the quoted cost of attendance figure, we can include the following if requested:
- Miscellaneous personal expenses: up to £4,670
- Transportation: up to £3,855
- Books, course materials, supplies and equipment: up to £1,700
- Visa: £524
- Immigration Health Surcharge - £2,716 for 1st YR BA students, £1,164 for courses 1 YR or less, £3,492 for 1st YR PhD students.
If you would like any of the extra amounts above, please detail the amount required on your cost of attendance spreadsheet.
We require that you inform us if you have plans to carry out any period of your studies (working away, internship, placement, completing fieldwork, etc.) in the US or at any institution other than the University of Cambridge. If undertaking any study in the US, we will need to ensure that you are eligible for US Federal Loans as there is only a small allowance for studying in the US if your studies there cannot be done anywhere else in the world. Please e-mail StudentLoans@admin.cam.ac.uk if this is something that will affect you.
US regulations do not permit maintenance for a partner or children to be included in the cost of attendance. If you wish to claim for childcare costs for dependents who are accompanying you during your studies, you will be required to provide supporting documentation (e.g. screenshot, invoice etc.).
If you are a PhD student completing research away from Cambridge while studying at the University of Cambridge, we can also look at including some of the extra costs you may incur, such as accommodation, flights etc. Please provide us with a detailed breakdown of these costs and note that we will be required to confirm with your supervisor that any extra costs are a requirement of your course of study. You must have also applied through your Self-Service to 'work away', and this must have been agreed by all parties on the working away form and be approved on CamSIS.
Postgraduates cannot apply for a Direct PLUS Loan without having first applied for a Direct Loan, and although undergraduate dependent students do not have to apply for a Direct Loan before their parents apply for a Direct PLUS Loan, it is recommended that they do so.
Disbursement
Once you have completed the required processes as detailed in our email on receiving your FAFSA, we will certify your federal loan(s), and send a ‘Notification of Student Loan' letter to you. This letter will be attached to the email we send once your federal loan(s) have been processed and completed by our office. You will be able to use this letter to support your visa application.
You should ensure that you have sufficient funds from an alternative source to cover any costs until you receive your first disbursement. You must be fully enrolled before your funds can be requested from the US Dept. of Education. If you have not completed your enrolment by the deadline, your loan disbursement will be postponed to the next scheduled disbursement date.
Although it is standard practice to invoice students for all fees at the beginning of the academic year, a special dispensation is made for students taking federal loans. Your College will arrange for your fees to be paid in instalments that correlate with your US loan payments.
Federal loans are drawn down via Convera UK Financial Limited and paid in equal instalments to your College. The US Dept. of Education stipulates that federal loans must be paid in equal instalments.
The actual amount in GBP £ you receive will vary as it’s dependent upon the exchange rate from USD $ to GBP £ at the time funds are received by Convera UK Financial Limited.
The disbursement dates are when your College will receive the proportion of your disbursement owed to them to cover fees and you will receive the remaining amount of the disbursement as living expenses.
Please see below the main scheduled disbursement dates dependent on the length of your course:
- Undergraduate courses, 9 month and 10 month Postgraduate courses: October 09 2025 and March 05 2026
- 11 month Postgraduate courses: October 09 2025 and March 26 2026
- MBA and MFIN courses: September 25 2025 and March 26 2026
- 12 month Postgraduate courses and PhD courses: October 09 2025 and April 23 2026.
The scheduled disbursement dates will be in the ‘Notification of Student Loan’ letter attached to the e-mail we send you once your federal loan(s) have been processed and completed by our office.
PhD Students
Please provide details if you are working away for any terms of the 2024-2025 academic year and if undertaking any study in the US please ensure that you have entered your initials where requested on your cost of attendance spreadsheet to confirm that your period of study in the US will be no more than 25% of your PhD and will be in the dissertation phase of your studies.
Please send an e-mail to StudentLoans@admin.cam.ac.uk if you are planning on studying in the US for any period of your PhD.
Also note that with effect from your 10th term you would not normally have to pay fees. If your fees are to be reduced because you are working away or if you are entering your 10th term, please complete the spreadsheet accordingly. Current students: before proceeding with your loan request we'll also need to confirm with your supervisor that you are making satisfactory academic progress.
Undergraduate Students
In order to calculate your Direct Stafford loan amount please refer to What Type of Loan and How Much You Can Borrow.
If you are a dependent undergraduate and one of your Parents is taking a PLUS loan, note that US regulations require that we have confirmation from the Parent when a Parent PLUS is taken that all the Parent PLUS loan is to be paid towards fees/charges/accommodation with any remainder being given to the student towards their living expenses. If one of your parents is taking a PLUS loan, we will require written confirmation of the above from your parent included with your loan paperwork.
Current undergraduate students: before proceeding with your loan request, we will need to confirm with your College that you are making satisfactory academic progress.
Professional Judgements
You may apply for extra aid to be added to your US Federal Loan for either special or unusual circumstances. These are judged on a case by case basis.
Special circumstances refer to the financial situations (loss of a job, etc.) that justify an aid administrator adjusting data elements in the COA or in the EFC calculation.
Unusual circumstances refer to the conditions that justify an aid administrator making an adjustment to a student's dependency status based on a unique situation (human trafficking, refugee or asylee status, parental abandonment, incarceration), more commonly referred to as a dependency override.
Some more common examples of applying for an increase to your cost of attendance through a professional judgement would be for childcare during your study hours, or extra travel that is essential to your studies that is not covered by the amount already allocated in the cost of attendance.
If you need to apply for the above, please email Caroline.Brown@admin.cam.ac.uk with a description of why you are needing to increase your cost of attendance, along with proof of these additional costs, such as day care invoices or flight and hotel quotes. Depending on the requirement, more evidence may be requested so that the professional judgement can be fairly assessed.