To fulfill current Federal and UCLA requirements, undergraduate or a graduate/professional students borrowing at UCLA must complete the appropriate type of online entrance loan counseling prior to receiving loan funds.
Entrance loan counseling is offered to help potential student borrowers in making informed financial decisions BEFORE accepting any loan offer on their award letter, by providing them with information on the:
- terms and conditions associated with different types of student loans
- rights and responsibilities of student loan borrowers and lenders
- long-term effects of borrowing
- ways to best utilize loans to meet the cost of education
You may also want to discuss your educational loan offers and college finances with a parent or an advisor.
Entrance Loan Counseling
For NON-CAMPUS-BASED LOANS:
FEDERAL DIRECT LOANS
For those needing to complete entrance loan counseling in order to receive Federal Direct Loans (Subsidized and/or Unsubsidized) or Federal Direct PLUS Loans, log in to your Bruin Financial Aid on MyUCLA with your UCLA Logon ID. Please note that graduate/professional students who have completed entrance loan counseling as a UCLA undergraduate will need to complete graduate/professional level entrance loan counseling if applying for a Grad PLUS Loan.
For assistance or questions regarding Direct Loan Entrance Loan Counseling, contact Financial Aid and Scholarships.
For CAMPUS-BASED LOANS:
UNIVERSITY/REGENTS, HEALTH PROFESSION, and DREAM LOANS
Students who are offered and accept a campus-based loan such as University/Regent Loans, health profession type loans, and various Dream Loans are not required to complete a separate online entrance loan counseling activity in order to receive this type of loan. The required entrance loan counseling for a campus-based loan will be provided within the process of e-signing the loan documents related to the campus-based loan offer you decide to accept.
For assistance or questions regarding entrance loan counseling for campus-based loans, contact Loan Services.
SB 1289 Required Notice ( Federal Student Loans versus Private Student Loans )
Students considering student loans need to be aware of the differences between federal student loans and private student loans:
- Federal student loans are required by law to provide a range of flexible repayment options including, but not limited to, income-based and income-contingent repayment plans, as well as loan forgiveness benefits that private lenders are not required to provide.
- Federal direct loans are available to most students regardless of income. Other qualification criteria do apply. For more information, please visit http://www.studentaid.gov/understand-aid/eligibility.
- Private student loan lenders can offer variable interest rates that can increase or decrease over time, depending on market conditions.
- The interest rate on a private loan may depend on the borrower’s and/or co-signer’s credit rating
- Private student loans have a range of interest rates and fees and students should determine the interest rate of, and any fees associated with, the private student loan included in their financial aid award package before accepting the loan. Students should contact the lender of the private student loan or their UC campus’ financial aid office if they have any questions about a private student loan.
Some UC campuses offer students their own private (institutional) student loans. Students offered a UC institutional private student loan should know that:
- Interest rates on UC loans will be fixed, not variable
- UC loans can have a range of interest rates
- UC loans are not awarded based on the credit history of the borrower