U.S. Federal Student Aid for new applicants

University College Dublin is approved by the U.S. Department of Education to certify loans under the ‘William D. Ford Direct Loan Program. Under this Program, eligible students can obtain federally supported Subsidized & Unsubsidized Direct loans and Direct PLUS loans.  Federally supported loans are made by the US Department of Education rather than by a private lender/bank.

Federal Aid for Schools and Universities Outside the U.S.

The process of applying for Federal Aid is different for students at universities outside of the U.S. and is outlined in our 2025-2026 Federal Aid Handbook.

Please review this document carefully if you intend to avail of Federal Aid loans for your studies at UCD.  

The annual deadline for making a UCD Federal Aid application on the SISweb portal (which includes the submission of all required documentation)  is 15 July. Students are strongly advised to apply well in advance of the deadline to allow plenty of processing time for Federal Aid applications.

Please note that Federal Aid regulations for universities outside the U.S. differ from those in the U.S. UCD liaises with the U.S. Department of Education to ensure that it follows all appropriate regulations for universities outside the U.S.

Being Loan Smart

Students are encouraged to read through UCD Global’s Being Loan Smart page. The US Department of Education website here also contains a lot of useful information and tools to help understand your loans.

Eligible Programmes

The U.S. Department of Education has approved UCD to certify federal aid for eligible programs at the following levels:

• Undergraduate: Bachelor’s degree programs
• Graduate Taught: Master’s degree programs (MA, MSc, MEng, MBA, LLM)
• Graduate Research: PhD and MLitt degree programs
• Graduate Entry Veterinary Medicine*

*to be eligible for loans a student must have completed at least three years of full time post-secondary education

UCD cannot currently certify loans for Medicine students as our USMLE pass rates did not meet the required threshold for the previous year however we are currently in the process of applying for reinstatement of this programme Due to the changes within the U.S. Department of Education, it is not clear when reinstatement will be finalised. For further information please contact federalaid@ucd.ie. 

The following kinds of programs are always ineligible for federal aid at UCD:

• Distance / Online: If any part of a program is not taught through in-person instruction, it is ineligible for federal aid
• Nursing
• Graduate Diplomas, Higher Certificates etc.

If you have concerns about programme eligibility, please contact federalaid@ucd.ie.