Accept, reduce, or cancel your loans

How to accept, reduce, or decline your loans

You must accept, reduce, or decline your loans each academic year by following these steps:

  1. Log into One.IU and go to View/Manage My Financial Aid Information.
  2. Choose your Aid Year.
  3. Choose the award you wish to accept, reduce, or decline (you’ll need to check the accept box before you can enter a reduced loan amount).
  4. Submit.

If you choose to reduce or decline your federal loans, you can and should do so before they post to your student account. However, it is possible to make adjustments after your loans have been posted.

Reduce your debt by reducing your loan amount

Remember that you’ll be offered the maximum amount you’re eligible to borrow. Once you see your account charges or get your refund, you might decide you don’t need to borrow that much money. You can minimize your loan debt by reducing a loan or canceling it completely.

A small change in the amount you borrow can result in a significant savings in the total cost of the loan.

Compare the numbers

Lana, a junior, borrows a Federal Stafford Subsidized Loan and repays it when she graduates by paying $50 every month.

If she borrows $2,700 at 6.8%
Cost typeAmount
Principal$2,700
Interest$533
Total Repayment$3,233
If she borrows $2,000 at 6.8%
Cost typeAmount
Principal$2,000
Interest$275
Total Repayment$2,275

By reducing the loan by $700, Lana would save $258 (just over 5 months of payments) in interest and reduce her total repayment by $958 (20 months of repayment). She would also spend less time paying off the loan; approximately 4 years instead of 5 and a half!

How to cancel or reduce your loans after they’re applied

After your loans are applied to your student account, you’ll get an email message about your right to cancel or reduce your loans. You have 14 days from the date on the message to complete the loan cancellation/reduction request form. If you don’t want to cancel or reduce a loan, just ignore the message.

You may use the loan cancellation/reduction request form to request a change to a federal student loan only if you’re the borrower. For example, a parent may not adjust a Federal Direct Loan on which their student is listed as the borrower. If you are not the borrower, your request will be denied.

You must submit the form no later than 14 days from the date on the notification email or letter stating that loans have been applied to your student account. Requests to cancel or reduce loans after 14 days will be denied.

Reduce or cancel your loans (after they've been applied)

Important information about canceling or reducing loans

If you get a refund before we receive your loan adjustment request, we’ll let you know how much you need to repay to IU, how to pay, and the deadline by which you need to pay. If a cancellation or reduction leaves an outstanding balance in your student account, you must use personal funds to pay the balance in full by the due date. Failing to do so will result in late payment fees and other institutional penalties.

We’ll process your request in a timely manner, and requests may not be reversed once processed. We may adjust your request if all or part of your loan has already been credited or refunded.

Unsubsidized loans will be reduced or canceled before subsidized loans.

Canceling the first loan disbursement will automatically cancel the second disbursement. Any refunds you’ve already received may need to be returned.