Loans

Funding options for overseas study

There are many advantages to studying abroad. It is a great way to broaden your horizons and immerse yourself in another culture while picking up valuable qualifications. At the moment, over 200,000 American students are studying overseas, and this figure is expected to increase by a factor of five over the next decade or so.

However, studying overseas can be an expensive business, what with the cost of travel and the vagaries of exchange rates to deal with on top of the usual cost of living expenses, accommodation, books, and tuition fees. For most students, funding overseas study will involve taking out a loan from a private lender or the US government. The US federal government offers low-hassle, low-interest loans to students who wish to study overseas via its Direct Loans scheme. These loans are available for both students who are involved with an exchange program, that may be studying overseas for a semester, or for students who have enrolled in an entire degree course with a foreign university.

The UK is the most popular destination for American students looking to study abroad, mainly due to the fact that there is no language barrier to deal with. Before you apply for a loan from the US FFELP loans scheme, you need to have a letter of acceptance for a full time degree course, which can be a Bachelors degree, a Masters degree, or a Doctorate. If you are applying for a Bachelors degree in the UK, you will need to go through the Universities and Colleges Admission System (UCAS). If you want to do a Masters or a Doctorate, you will have to apply directly to the university department(s) that you wish to study with. The universities themselves will be able to help you to estimate the total cost of attending them, and you will receive information about this when you are accepted for a course. You can borrow up to the total value of your cost of attendance with a combination of federal student loans and private loans. The first thing that you should do if you are applying for a Federal loan is to visit the FAFSA website to establish your eligibility for a student loan. This will generate an eight page document called a Student Aid Report, which will automatically be submitted to the university that you will be studying at.

If you require a private loan to help fund your overseas study, you may find that you can get a better deal by applying to a European-based bank such as Santander, who offer a wide range of loans at competitive rates. The reason for this is that you will receive the money in the local currency, rather than having to process it through a currency exchange.