Student Loan: All About Student Loans
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A student loan is an unsecured loan made by lenders that receive
government underwriting assistance. Without this government
assistance, student loans would not be very practical. Lenders
would find other more profitable arenas in which to loan their
money. Nobody would be able to get a low interest student loan –
without the help of a parent with a substantial financial
history and reasonable means. Like any government sponsored
program, there are rules and regulations and red tape to deal
with. In the case of student loan red tape, it all begins with a
financial aid form called the FAFSA (Free Application for
Federal Student Aid).
This form establishes the student’s eligibility (or
ineligibility) for all manner of student loan assistance,
including low interest loans. This form can be filled out and
submitted as a regular paper form, or it can be filled out and
tracked online (much easier). The guidance office at your High
School is likely to have a pile of these forms. Libraries and
College Admissions offices are other places to look for the
paper version of the form. If all else fails and you really want
the paper version of the FAFSA, you can get one by calling
1-800-4-FED-AID.
Most people find it more convenient to simply log on to
www.fafsa.ed.gov and submit the form electronically. By doing it
this way you also automatically get a way to look in on the
status of your application. Supposedly, doing the form online
can make the process from one to two weeks faster than
submitting the paper form. Either way, you will find that the
form is relatively easy to fill out, and typically will require
much of the same information that would be included in the
parent’s tax returns. Student loans are also available to those
who turn out to be ineligible for the regular unsecured low
interest student loans. These other loans are normally called
Parent Plus loans or private alternative loans, or just “alternative loans”. These are basically loans made with a
co-signature from the parents. In effect it’s no different from
a young person buying a car with a parent’s co-signature. Both
the student and the parents are on the hook for repayment of the
loan. Because of the government regulation involved with the
unsecured student loans, this is one of the few types of loans
that do not require a whole lot of shopping around. There is not
a lot of variability in the interest rates and other features of
the government sponsored loans. The same is not true for the
Parent Plus loans or private alternative loans. With those you
do need to shop around. So the first step is really to fill out
a FAFSA form well in advance of the time tuition is due and use
that to start your quest for college money. This will help you
to determine what kind of student loans you are eligible for and
assist you greatly in your loan shopping.
You can learn more about your options and see offers from some
alternative loan student loan lenders at my website -
http://www.creditcards-and-loans.com/student-loans.htmlAbout the Author
By: Jeff Pritchard
Jeff Pritchard is a webmaster with several informative websites
and primary author of the new website http://www.creditcards-and-loans.com. This site is a supermarket for
all types of credit and loans. You can learn about the options
and differences between various kinds of loans and find all the
best and latest loan offers
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