When you're looking to finance your education, it's best to use all available
federal loan options before you apply for a private student loan.
If you are like many students and families, you will still have a gap between what you can pay and your financial aid package (
including federal loan options).
Though there's a big difference between subsidized and unsubsidized loans, both of these types
of federal loan options share several similarities...
«If you need to borrow, look first at
student federal loan options, because they generally have better rates and repayment terms,» says Bernhardt.
Federal loan options for graduate student borrowers are limited to Direct Unsubsidized Loans and Direct Grad PLUS Loans.
Every
year Federal Loan options become more forgiving, with some programs even offering forgiveness after on time payments are made for at least 20 years.
However, students (and / or cosigners) with excellent credit are sometimes offered fairly attractive private student loans that should be carefully compared to
federal loan options before a final decision is made.
The primary reasons why families borrowed private student loans included having reached the Stafford loan limits, being unaware
of federal loan options, being ineligible for federal education loans, and parents unwilling to borrow for their children's education.
The Perkins Loan is
another federal loan option that is for needy students.
However, students (and / or cosigners) with excellent credit are sometimes offered fairly attractive private student loans that should be carefully compared to
federal loan options before a final decision is made.
The underlying goal is to make sure students and families exhaust all of
their federal loan options before moving forward with a private education loan.
However, these forms of financial aid generally won't cover all of your college costs, so looking at
your federal loan options is your next step.
After you've exhausted
your federal loan options, you may still have outstanding expenses at your college.
Check out
your federal loan options first and then turn to private loans only when necessary to cover additional school costs.
That being said, if you have exhausted all of
your federal loan options (Student and Parent PLUS Direct Loans), a private education loan may be your only choice to covering your education expenses.
As a general rule of thumb, most people are likely better off exhausting
all federal loan options before turning to a private loan.
Borrowers should generally maximize
their federal loan options before resorting to private loans.
In comparing private student loans for medical school to
federal loan options, it's important to note that deferment, repayment, grace, forbearance, and even loan forgiveness options may be limited in nature.
It's worth mentioning that you should exhaust
your federal loan options before considering private student loans.
If you've exhausted
your federal loan options and still need money for school, private loans may help.
Only after you have exhausted
all federal loan options should you look into taking a private loan.
As a final thought, you should always exhaust
your federal loan options first because private loans are harder to get approved for and they usually carry a higher interest rate.
Phrases with «federal loan options»