Dream Loan

A: The Dream Loan provides eligible AB540 undergraduate and graduate students with the option to borrow loans to help cover the cost of attending UC.

A: You must:

• Be an AB 540-eligible undergraduate or graduate student
• Be a California DREAM Act Application filer
• Be financially needy
• Not be eligible for Federal Loans
• Not have your educational expenses for the school year already fully met by financial aid

A: You may be awarded up to $4,000 a year.

A: You may borrow up to $20,000 during your career at UCI.

A: No. It is money you borrow that must be repaid with interest. Interest is the cost to borrow money. You will be charged a percentage of the loans' unpaid amount as interest.

A: The rate changes every school year. It will always be set to the same interest rate as the Federal Direct Subsidized Loan. For the 2022-23 school year, the interest rate is 4.99%.

A: Interest will not accrue until six months after you graduate or drop below half-time enrollment. This six-month period is called your grace period.

A: No.

A: No. Whether you borrow the loan or not is up to you.

A: No. You will receive the amount of the loan in equal disbursements - a disbursement for each term for which you are enrolled that school year. For example, if you borrow a 3,000 loan, you will a $1,000 disbursement in the fall, a $1,000 disbursement in the winter and a $1,000 disbursement in the spring.

A: You have up to ten years to repay the loan under the standard repayment plan.  You have up to twenty years under the Income Based Repayment plan (subject to lender approval at the start of repayment...contact ECSI at (888)549-3274).

A: You will be expected to make monthly payments.

A: Yes, there are late fees of four dollars a month.

A: After 180 days of non-payment, you will be placed into default. Loan default is the failure to repay a loan according to the agreed-upon terms of the loan. You want to avoid this from occurring because legal action may be taken against you to get the money back.

A: In certain situations, you may request a deferment. This postpones your loan payments without placing you in default. You are eligible to defer your loans if you are enrolled at least half-time in school, unemployed, experiencing financial hardship or serving on active duty in the military. No interest will accrue while your loans are in deferment. Sometimes, you may be granted forbearance if you are experiencing certain types of financial hardships. During forbearance, your loan payments are postponed, but interest still accrues on the loan.

A: Yes, if you wish and you have the means to do so. The loan can be pre-paid at any time without penalties or pre-payment fees. Doing so will save you money because you will be paying less interest on the loan in the long run.

A: If you should die or become permanently and totally disabled, the entire amount of the loan (plus the interest) is cancelled. You will no longer be obligated to repay the loan.

A: You will be required to complete a loan counseling session the first year you borrow the loan (entrance counseling) as well as complete a similar counseling session again when you graduate from UCI or drop below half time enrollment (exit counseling).