Emergency loans provide assistance to students experiencing short-term financial problems. They will remain interest-free for a specified time period and cannot be used for tuition or residence fees.
Apply online using the Undergraduate Student Emergency Loan application to request a short-term emergency loan from the University of Waterloo.
Once submitted, the Student Awards and Financial Aid Office will review and if approved, the loan will usually be available within three business days.
Funding can be processed electronically by direct deposit if you have added banking information to your Quest account. Direct deposit instruction are available on the Finance website.
Rules and regulations
- Applications will be accepted from the first day of lectures up to the last day of the final examination period for a term.
- Emergency loans may not be used to cover tuition.
- Loan maximums: $1,000 for full-time students and $300 for part-time students.
- Loans are not available until tuition fees are paid or arranged with Student Financial Services.
- Students must be in satisfactory academic standing.
- Available to all students: domestic and international.
- Payment will normally be available within three working days for approved loans.
- Arrange to have proof of your source of repayment ready to upload to your application before submission. Examples of acceptable sources of repayment are OSAP or other provincial aid, co-op job placement income, or other employment income (part-time/ full-time).
- If the emergency loan is approved, prompt repayment of the loan is required. Repayment instructions will be provided in communications from Student Awards and Financial Aid. Repayment should not be made to your student account.
