US federal loans for both undergraduate and graduate students are administered centrally by Graduate Admissions and Funding. The information in this section is relevant to prospective and current graduate and undergraduate students.
Please read through the following information pages before starting the application process. You may find that the process is very different to previous applications made at US universities.

Loan application process

To be eligible for US federal loans, you must be a US citizen and meet the eligibility criteria outlined on the Eligibility page.  
If you wish to apply for a loan for the current academic year (2014-15), please follow the six step application process outlined below. 
If you wish to apply for a loan for the next academic year (2015-16) please follow the six step application process outlined below. We will start processing applications from 1 May 2015, but you may begin the process from mid-April if you wish. If you are a new student, please only start the application process once you have had an offer from your department and an offer from a college.
Most students want their loan application to be approved before their college's financial declaration deadline. If this applies to you, please ensure that you complete the application process in plenty of time. The loan approval process can take up to four weeks during peak processing periods (June to October) or longer if there are difficulties with your application or if you have submitted your application without correctly completing all of the steps listed on this page. It is your responsibility to ensure that you submit a complete loan application in good time to meet your college's financial declaration deadline and any other deadlines for which you may need to show proof of funding.
Links to the websites you will need in order to complete steps 1–3 below are listed in Related websites on this page.

Six step guide to applying for a US federal student loan:

Step 1 – Complete your FAFSA

Step 2 – Complete your PLUS loan request (if applicable)

Step 3 – Complete your Master Promissory Note(s) (MPNs)

Step 4 – Complete entrance counselling

Step 5 – Complete Oxford’s Cost of attendance (COA) worksheet

Step 6 – Submit your loan application to Oxford (includes submission deadlines)

What next?

Applying for private loans

If you are interested in applying for a private US student loan, please see information on applying for private loans on our Other loans page for more details.