Student Loans

What Uni is this? I'm not sure I understand... the only form the Uni signs for Federal loans is the Promissory note which doesn't indicate how checks are issued anyway.

If you are having trouble or want to see if you can reverse this for the upcoming year, try calling Lauren at IEFC. She always seemed to have the answer for me! Again, I don't think the Uni can call the shots here.

And I might add, you may need to get a bit forceful with them. My experience is that British Unis will do anything NOT to be flexible or change things. My whole thing about this is that I need the money to live on and therefore they cannot deny me getting it in a faster manner. They cannot lump American loans with the way they handle Brit ones. They are entirely different kettles of fish.

Sorry to go on about this, but this just drives me insane!

Trust me, it was driving me insane as well - since I didn't work last year it was a real hardship to wait all that time for the checks to go through!!!!

It's the University of London, Institute of Education and the form that they were talking about was the one that they have to fill out suggesting disbursement dates. It was definitely the fed. check 'cause I didn't actually qualify for the TERI loan this year (long story, bad credit in the US.)

You're SO SO right about British unis not being willing to even CONSIDER changing their "system" - they're absolutely infuriating sometimes!! It's all smiles and nice when things work, but if something goes wrong (and my checks got lost not once but twice last year) suddenly they become the most rigid, uncompromising, and unpleasant people to deal with ever! I had a decent experience last year at school except for dealing with the registrar and finance dept.!!!!!

Well, all I can say is, if this is going to put you in a difficult position this year, you need to try and go over their heads. I always filled out the disbursement dates and whatnot on the Promissory note myself and just had them sign off. You could always try to make them think policies with your issuing bank have changed! I can't recall exactly who I spoke to, but I know someone gave me a phone number to call to get the check sent to my US address. You might be able to smile and nod at the Uni and then change it on the US end. 

Now you've got me all irritated at Finance Offices and such! 

Oh, I also had people in my Faculty Admissions sign off on things, NOT the finance office. It may well depend on the Uni but Reading seemed to be used to doing it that way.
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OK, just went and looked at my copy of my Promissory note from last year. It has recommended disbursement dates to be filled in and I don't see anywhere that they can stipulate that they would get the check first. My guess is, your Uni just know that's standard operating procedure but, again, I'd think you could override it on the US end.

To be honest, I know it would just serve to raise my blood pressure if I tried to over-ride them!  I'm looking for work right now and once I get my FLR I'm going to apply for jobs with more than 20 hours as well as reducing my class time to part-time as it was just too stressful to try to subsist on one income and periodic loan installments last year. So I'm just going to let it go. But if Kristi wants to fight the good fight at the Institute of Ed. next year I'll back her all the way!!! 

But from what you've said it does sound as though the school is being a bit shady about it all and trying to make students believe that it's the uni that's got the final word in where the checks end up going!!!

I used the registrar's office at my uni but in questioning them a bit it came out that they were taking their instruction from the finance office! Grrrrrr.

Wait.. wait... now I am so confused..........


I got the private Teri... I managed to find the online app for the Stafford... will have to hunt it down again if you need it... but I have the MPN and my SAR now who the heck can sign it?  Anyone? 

It's starting to sound like every uni has it's own rules, isn't it?!  You should contact the registrar's office as I think that's usually the office that deals with this stuff. Then within that office there's someone who's authorized to sign the forms. At least that's how it worked at the U. of London.... 

I'd try your Faculty admissions office first for signing of MPN then proceed up the food chain as required.

TERI should send whatever the school needs to sign directly to the school. You may want to check with TERI to see if they already have Yanks using their loans at Exeter and what office they deal with. As Anne says, it does seem to depend upon the Uni.

I was one of the first at Reading to do a TERI, plus Reading had new staff, so it was sort of left to me to tell them how to do it!

Nothing happens with the SAR if I'm not mistaken!

So not to drudge up a really old topic, but a friend linked this to me & I've lurked this board for ages.  Anyway, the point:

if you take out a Stafford loan for an amount greater than tuition, will the university cut you a check for the extra?  Technically the Stafford loan is listed for helping students with basically anything study-related, included housing, etc.  I plan on living in private accoms, so while this money will go towards, it will have nothing to do with the university directly.

Also, for those who've applied in the past...how long does it usually take to find out the final bill so to speak?  Ie., how much they are giving you & how much you will exactly owe?  I'm thinking not at LEAST until after I have an unconditional firm offer (after I graduate undergrad in a month), but probably later in the summer?  I'm just kinda antsy to know what kind of numbers I'm facing.  From what I've heard from friends & read online, the finances/loan process is pretty insane.

I took loans for more than my tuition (you will have to actually unless you can prove that you have however much you need to support yourself - if I recall correctly I had to have £10K above my tuition). The first year, the cheques went to my university and they put whatever was left in my bank account by direct deposit. The second year (perhaps because I was no longer bound by a student visa) the cheques went straight to me and I deposited them myself (a huge drag since they were in dollars - I had to endorse them, send them to my mom to deposit in my US account and then pay pal it back to my English account) and then I paid my tuition myself.

As for the final bill, they should have sent you a schedule of fees so you know exactly what your course is going to cost you - they should provide that along with application materials. But then you'll need to find out what you have to have on top of tuition in order to support yourself - my uni gave me this info. - I'm pretty sure it's to do with visa requirements but I'm not positive.

My UK bank was able to deposit my US cheque.  It cost me about £20 but it was much easier than sending it home for depositing! 
Anne and I went to the same uni so my process was what she described.  The cheque went to my uni's finance office.  I rang and asked them if it was there yet, went down and they gave it to me.  Took it to the bank, deposited it, then wrote a cheque for my tuition.  I kept the extra to live on. 

My UK bank was able to deposit my US cheque.

Kristi, how long did it take for the check to clear?

and while I'm at it- when did you all get your checks? At registration in September? Before uni actually started? When was the money actually disbursed?

Kristi, how long did it take for the check to clear?

4-5 days but they told me it could take up to 10.  I bank with HSBC.

4-5 days but they told me it could take up to 10.  I bank with HSBC.

Ah, fabulous!  I was under the impression that a US check took weeks to clear with a UK bank- glad to know that's not the case.