August 12, 2022

Shih International Student Loan

UW international graduate and undergraduate students are eligible to apply for the Shih International Student Loan. The loans are made possible through a generous gift from Jeff Shih, a Seattle and San Francisco businessman and are intended to help international students in financing their education and completing their degree objectives.

Eligibility:

• Students receiving funds from their governments, U.S. permanent residents, and naturalized U.S. citizens are not eligible for this loan.
• Graduate students must be enrolled for 5 credits or more during the quarter in which they receive the loan. Undergraduate students must be enrolled for 6 credits or more during the quarter in which they receive the loan. (Students registered for less than the credits mentioned may receive the loan on an exception basis; special procedures are required.)
• Shih loan recipients are expected to maintain satisfactory academic progress and scholarship during the loan period.

Details about the loan:

• The total amount a student may borrow in this program throughout the course of his or her graduate/undergraduate career is $15,000.
• The terms of the loan include a 4% interest rate. (Should the student elect to repay the full amount of the loan while still enrolled full-time at the UW, no interest or service fees will be assessed.)
• Most loans have a grace period before you have to start repaying – the Shih Loan grace period is nine months. Your grace period starts the day after you leave school, graduate or drop below half-time enrollment before your repayment begins. You don’t have to begin making payments until your grace period ends. (Should a student’s enrollment drop below the 5-credit [graduate student] or 6-credit [undergraduate student] per quarter level, the nine-month grace period would begin.)
• Your monthly repayment amount will be determined by the loan amount you borrow.
• The total amount of the loan must be repaid within ten years.

How to Apply:

Due to the high demand in this institutional loan program, if you wish to be placed on the wait list for the academic year of 2022-2023, email Lisa Whitehead (Associate Director, Office of Student Financial Aid) at lisaanne@uw.edu for more information.