A STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO APPLY FOR LOANS AT THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF PARIS

STUDY YOUR OFFICIAL AUP FINANCIAL AID AWARD LETTER If you have applied for AUP Financial Aid, you will receive an official AUP Financial Aid Award Letter by email. Your award letter will explicitly detail: the amount of your awards, a breakdown of the tuition and fees, the official cost of attendance, and your loan eligibility. Your loan eligibility will look something like this:
LOAN INFORMATION Your Federal Loan Eligibility Subsidized Stafford Loan Unsubsidized Stafford Loan Parent PLUS Graduate PLUS/Private loan (subject to credit check)

$1,750 $1,000 $20,120

It is very important that you study the entire letter, using it to decide how you will finance the tuition fees and living expenses over the next year. As an example, some students will finance all expenses through loans and aid, while others may use other sources of funding and choose to apply for a lower loan amount. For more information on applying for private or federal loans, please see the Federal Loans and Private Loans sections below. IMPORTANT FOR INCOMING STUDENTS: Before we can certify any loans, you must first officially confirm your attendance to AUP by paying the confirmation deposit and completing the steps online as outlined in your admissions acceptance email. You cannot use loan funds to cover the 350 deposit.

FILL OUT THE FAFSA The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) can be completed here: www.fafsa.ed.gov. AUPs Title IV Code for the FAFSA is G07881. Be sure that you complete it for the academic year that you will be attending AUP, not a previous year. If you fill out the FAFSA properly, AUP will receive an electronic copy, but we ask that you also personally send us a confirmation of completion. Please send a copy of confirmation to Emilie Williams at: ewilliams@aup.edu. Please note: only filling out the FAFSA does not mean that you have applied for any loans OR AUP Financial Aid.

APPLY FOR LOANS THAT YOU WILL NEED AUP students may be eligible for the following federal loans: Stafford (Subsidized or Unsubsidized), Parent PLUS and Graduate PLUS; students may also apply for the Sallie Mae Smart Option Loan, which is a private loan. You can apply for all of the federal loans through the same web site: www.studentloans.gov. You can apply for the Smart Option Private loan on the Sallie Mae Web Site: www.salliemae.com. Most students choose to apply for Stafford Loans first because of the favorable interest rates and terms, and then apply for a Parent PLUS or Grad PLUS Loan to cover the difference. In some cases, however, we have seen students apply for the Sallie Mae Smart Option Loan if the interest rate and terms are more favorable. You can only compare if you apply. For more information about private and federal student loans, you can visit: www.fafsa.ed.gov, www.studentloans.gov, www.salliemae.com, or the Department of Educations Direct Loan Program website, www.direct.ed.gov. Federal loans You can apply for all of the federal loans through the same website: www.studentloans.gov, logging in with the same pin number you used for the FAFSA website. First, complete the Entrance Counseling Session; send confirmation of completion to Emilie Williams at: ewilliams@aup.edu. Next, if you intend to apply for the Stafford Loan, fill out the online Master Promissory Note (MPN) in its entirety. Send a copy of the completed PDF to Emilie Williams at: ewilliams@aup.edu.

Next, if you are eligible and wish to take out a Parent PLUS or a Grad PLUS loan, you will need to complete the twostep process: a. Complete the PLUS request; this will run a credit check. b. After you receive notification that you qualify, you must then log back into www.studentloans.gov and endorse the PLUS loan. Endorsing requires completing an online Master Promissory Note (MPN) when completed send a copy to ewilliams@aup.edu. Please note: unless we hear otherwise, we will certify your maximum eligibility; if you want to borrow a lower amount, please notify us. Again, as noted above, you will need to send copies of, or confirmation of completion, for the following documents: FAFSA, Entrance Counseling Session and Master Promissory Note(s). Please keep copies of all pertinent documents for your records. For Parent PLUS and Grad PLUS Loan Borrowers: if a loan endorser is required, all credit issues must be resolved by you before we can certify the loan. Please let us know of any complications with credit or anything out of the ordinary so that we can be proactive if need be. Private loans We have seen students apply for the Sallie Mae Smart Option Loan for two main reasons: a. the student is the borrower and payment is deferred until after graduation, contrary to the Parent PLUS loan, and/or b. the interest rate is lower because the co-signer has strong credit. Please keep in mind that your loan eligibility will not change, as the eligibility for the private loan is the sum of all loans outlined in the official AUP Financial Aid Award Letter. You can apply for the Smart Option Private Loan on the Sallie Mae Web Site: www.salliemae.com follow the steps through to completion. Once you have applied for the loan, please notify us that you have applied for the loan and that its ready to certify. Please send a copy of confirmation to Emilie Williams at: ewilliams@aup.edu. Unlike the federal loans above, the Smart Option Loan will actually arrive at AUP in the form of a check. You will need to sign the check in person at the Financial Aid Office. We will then give the check over to our Student Accounting Services (SAS) Office to apply to your AUP account.

USING LOANS TO PAY FOR TUITION AND FEES FOR FUTURE SEMESTERS If you plan on using loans to cover AUP tuition and fees for any future semesters, you may receive invoices from our SAS Office that do not include loan amounts. If you have followed all of the proper steps outlined above, the Financial Aid Office will coordinate with SAS and you will have no issue with registering for classes. We will receive loan funds from the Department of Education as early as legally possible: ten (10) calendar days before the first day of classes. When the funds arrive, the appropriate amounts in Euros, using the official daily exchange rate, will be placed on your AUP account. At that point, if any excess funds remain after tuition and fees are applied, a check in Euros will be handed over to you, which can then be deposited in a local bank account. This check is administered by SAS please contact them at StudentAccountingServices@aup.edu should you have any questions about your refund check. The Office of Student Affairs will help incoming students open up a local bank account during the Orientation week. Current students wishing to use loans for the current semester If you are a currently enrolled student and wish to use loans to cover any expenses for the current semester, you will still need to follow all of the steps above. We will request loan funds as soon as we receive all of your documents and these funds can be expected in your AUP account within one week. If any excess funds remain after tuition and fees, a refund check in Euros will be handed over to you. This check is administered by SAS please contact them at StudentAccountingServices@aup.edu should you have any questions about your refund check.