Aid & Scholarships

We are Title IV-approved (code G07881) by the United States Department of Education to participate in the federal Direct Loan Program and administer loans to American citizens and permanent residents. This loan program gives our students access to Unsubsidized Direct Loans and Graduate PLUS Direct Loans. US Citizens and permanent residents can also apply for the private Sallie Mae Graduate Student Loans.

Most graduate students take out Unsubsidized Direct Loans first and then use the Graduate PLUS loan or the Sallie Mae Graduate Student loan for the balance. Eligibility and more detail are provided in the official financial award letter and loan eligibility letter. 

With the exception of the private Sallie Mae Graduate Student Loans, which you can apply for directly online through Sallie Mae, all students applying for U.S. federal loans must begin by filling out the FAFSA for each academic year. 

Once you complete the FAFSA, a copy of the Student Aid Report (SAR) is sent to us electronically if you request it. AUP's Title IV code is G07881. It’s the student's responsibility to fill out the FAFSA properly and resolve any outstanding issues. 

Filling out the FAFSA does not mean that you have applied for any loans. Completing the FAFSA is only the first of several steps required to apply for loans. You still need to apply for federal loans online and complete the AUP Loan Plan. For incoming students, the AUP Loan Plan is linked on the AUP Status Page and for returning students you can ask the Financial Aid office to send you the link you by emailing financialaid@aup.edu. 

Once you have completed your FAFSA and the required steps to apply for loans, the Financial Aid Office initiates the request for your loan funds. Then, Student Accounting Services will credit your student account at The American University of Paris with the corresponding loan amount in Euros. 

If any excess loans funds are on your student account, student accounting services will prepare a check in Euros that you can deposit into your local bank account in Paris and use for your living expenses. Most students receive living expense money from their loans at the beginning of the semester. Nevertheless, federal regulations prevent The American University of Paris from disbursing loan funds, and therefore turning over any living expense money, any time prior to 10 days before the beginning of the loan period, usually the first day of the semester. 

Please address all questions about your student account, gaining access to the refund check, and local banking issues to Student Accounting Services. 

U.S. Department of Education regulations determine total loan eligibility, the maximum you can borrow in any given loan period, based on the formula: tuition + fees + reasonable living expenses – financial awards received. Your FAFSA results will determine how this final amount is divided among your different loan types, but your overall loan eligibility is provided in the official tuition award letter and/or loan eligibility letter.

You cannot borrow more than your loan eligibility unless a detailed budget is presented and approved by the AUP Financial Aid Office.  Federal statute indicates explicitly what can and cannot be included in a budget. For example items such as past credit card debt, most start-up costs before arriving on campus, rent that is noticeably higher than that of most other students, and any expenses outside of a loan period cannot be included in the budget. 

Once a loan has been certified and the funds are ready to be requested from the U.S. treasury, student accounting services will credit your account with the net amounts of the loan. The net US dollar amount is converted to euros using the official daily exchange rate for the day The American University of Paris received the funds. 

Students who borrow federal loans are limited in the amount of study they can complete in the United States. This is because AUP is a "foreign university" (meaning our campus is located outside of the United States) as defined by the US Department of Education. Once at AUP, degree-seeking students who receive federal loans cannot elect to study inside the United States if it means more than 25% of their program (degree) is made up of courses completed in the United States. This takes into account previous transfer credits to AUP as well. Each request to study abroad, whether it is an entire semester or a one-course internship/thesis must be measured against the 25%  threshold. Please contact the Financial Aid Office for more information. 

If you apply for one of these loans and your credit check fails, you will either need to correct the problem with your credit report or apply with an endorser or cosigner. We encourage you to ensure that any problems get resolved well before payment deadlines. 

Although the Financial Aid Office strives to ensure that our students understand the complexities of the student loan process, we will never refuse to certify a loan for an eligible student. However, the Financial Aid Office reserves the right to refuse to process federal loans for a) students taking summer session courses before they begin their full-time studies in the fall semester; b) students who are not registered full-time during their first semester. 

As a graduate student, you need a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 to maintain your award and you do not need to reapply each year. However, U.S. students and permanent residents must apply for federal loans each academic year, which means completing, at minimum, a new FAFSA and new Master Promissory Note(s) (MPN) for each loan. 

You may appeal, in writing, to the Financial Aid Office to reinstate a financial award once you meet the qualifications for the award again. For example, a student losing an award due to a 2.8 cumulative GPA at the end of the fall semester must achieve a 3.0 cumulative GPA by the end of the spring semester before an appeal for reinstatement can be made. Awards are reinstated the semester following the appeal. An appeal cannot be made retroactively and must be made prior to the start of the semester during which the requested award is to be reinstated. 

All types of financial awards, including community service grants, will be applied directly to your AUP student account. Your award is tied to registration and course load and will be adjusted according to any course overload or part-time enrollment. 

If you are an American student receiving loans, we will submit loan amounts for you to the student accounting services office, which will credit your student account. If a positive balance remains following the deduction of tuition and fees from your loan amount, a refund check will be issued to you by Student Accounting Services. 

No. There are no merit-only financial awards available to graduate students. Nonetheless, since the majority of graduate students demonstrate high financial need when applying for a financial award, greater weight is placed on academic merit than on financial need when considering financial award applications. 

FAFSA is an acronym that stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid and is required of all American students applying for financial awards and loans. The Expected Family Contribution (EFC) formula on the FAFSA helps our Financial Aid Office determine financial need. Our overall financial award evaluation policy for all students is loosely based on the FAFSA to determine need, as well as the family's expected contribution (EFC) to the overall annual education cost. 

No. Extending your thesis or internship is sometimes possible, but it means that you are no longer registered at least half-time (6 credits), which is the minimum number of credits required to qualify for loans and a deferment. You can no longer receive living expense money and you no longer qualify for an in-school deferment as soon as you drop below half-time status. Dropping below half-time usually begins on the last day of the semester in which your thesis is initially registered. 

You may still qualify for loans provided that you’re still registered for at least 6 credits. However, your tuition grant will be pro-rated proportionately and consequently your loan eligibility will decrease. Therefore, it’s important to inform the Financial Aid Office prior to the beginning of the semester if you expect to drop below full-time registration. If you drop down to less than half-time registration (0 to 5 credits), you may not apply for additional loans and your previous loans will no longer qualify for an in-school deferment.

No. This is, unfortunately, a very common question, but federal regulations state explicitly that we cannot disburse living expense money any time prior to 10 days before the official loan period begins, which is the first day of class. If your loans are guaranteed and set up completely, we are happy to intervene and speak with your landlord or provide documentation advocating for a payment extension until you receive your funds.

Yes, but only if you are going to be registered for at least 6 credits during the summer session. If you’re not registered in the summer, you cannot include any summer expenses on the budgets of the preceding spring or following fall semesters. 

Students are eligible to use private scholarships to pay for tuition. 

With a student visa, you have the right to work part-time in France during your studies.