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All About Student Loans
By Jeff Pritchard, Sat Dec 10th
A is an unsecured loan made by lenders that receivegovernment underwriting assistance. Without this governmentassistance, student loans would not be very practical. Lenderswould find other more profitable arenas in which to loan theirmoney. Nobody would be able to get a low interest –without the help of a parent with a substantial financialhistory and reasonable means. Like any government sponsoredprogram, there are rules and regulations and red tape to dealwith. In the case of red tape, it all begins with afinancial aid form called the FAFSA (Free Application forFederal Student Aid). This form establishes the student’s eligibility (orineligibility) for all manner of assistance,including low interest loans. This form can be filled out andsubmitted as a regular paper form, or it can be filled out andtracked online (much easier). The guidance office at your HighSchool is likely to have a pile of these forms. Libraries andCollege Admissions offices are other places to look for thepaper version of the form. If all else fails and you really wantthe paper version of the FAFSA, you can get one by calling1-800-4-FED-AID. Most people find it more convenient to simply log on towww.fafsa.ed.gov and submit the form electronically. By doing itthis way you also automatically get a way to look in on thestatus of your application. Supposedly, doing the form onlinecan make the process from one to two weeks faster thansubmitting the paper form. Either way, you will find that theform is relatively easy to fill out, and typically will requiremuch of the same information that would be included in theparent’s tax returns. Student loans are also available to thosewho
turn out to be ineligible for the regular unsecured lowinterest student loans. These other loans are normally calledParent Plus loans or private alternative loans, or just“alternative loans”. These are basically loans made with aco-signature from the parents. In effect it’s no different froma young person buying a car with a parent’s co-signature. Boththe student and the parents are on the hook for repayment of theloan. Because of the government regulation involved with theunsecured student loans, this is one of the few types of loansthat do not require a whole lot of shopping around. There is nota lot of variability in the interest rates and other features ofthe government sponsored loans. The same is not true for theParent Plus loans or private alternative loans. With those youdo need to shop around. So the first step is really to fill outa FAFSA form well in advance of the time tuition is due and usethat to start your quest for college money. This will help youto determine what kind of student loans you are eligible for andassist you greatly in your loan shopping.
You can learn more about your options and see offers from somealternative loan lenders at my website -http://www.creditcards-and-loans.com/student-loans.html
About the author:Jeff Pritchard is a webmaster with several informative websitesand primary author of the new websitewww.creditcards-and-loans.com. This site is a supermarket forall types of credit and loans. You can learn about the optionsand differences between various kinds of loans and find all thebest and latest loan offers |
