Student Loans
An education loan is a type of financial aid that has to be repaid by the borrower with an attached interest rate (college scholarships and grants do not require repayment).
Three Main Types
Education loans fall under three main categories: parent loans (Plus Loans), private loans for students (Alternative Student Loans) and student loans (Stafford and Perkins Loans).
Student Consolidation Loans
Another type of education loan is the consolidation loan. The student consolidation loan permits the borrower to shift their loans into one singular payment.
Federal Loans
Peer-to-peer education loans are a recent innovation. Federal education loans come in the form of either federally guaranteed student loans or The Direct Loan.
More than one hundred billion in federal education loans and ten billion for private student loans are given out each year.
Federal law regulates the fees and interest rates that lenders can charge individuals for federally-guaranteed loans. There is no entity that hinders a lender from requesting lower fees. Student loan discounts are offered by many lenders in order to get borrowers.
Options With Government Loans
Many student loan sources offer private and low cost government loans that have flexible repayment terms and high quality servicing. FinAid manages a list of guarantee agencies, secondary markets, and education lenders that offer private and federal student loans.
They also provide sound advice on lender lists and selecting a lender. Their help alone can also help one identify the lenders that currently own or manages your loans.
Entrance And Exit Exam Requirements
Borrowers of federal student loans are required to participate in entrance and exit counseling prior to receiving a loan. Counseling must also happen before graduation. The loan counselings service is often given through web sites.
Loan Forgiveness Programs
Common loan forgiveness programs (where the borrower’s loans are taken care of in exchange for public service, military service, or volunteer work) offers an alternative for simple repayment.
Discharge Forms and Loan Cancellation can be located on the website belonging to The US Department of Education.
Scholarships And Grants
Another great option for funding is to receive a scholarship or grant to pay for school. The main advantage to these is that they won’t need to be paid back.
Because of this they offer a great way to supplement any loans you might take out to give you even more financial room when the costs of schooling arise.
Scholarships
Although most scholarships for students are based of performance there are still many available based off your situation in life or type of person you are.
These include scholarships for minorities, parents including both mothers and dads, and even more esoteric requirements such as being left handed or part of some other group.
Grants are similar to scholarships in that they don’t need to be paid back. They can be based off slightly different criteria though, like grants for single moms.
A common form of grants would be for business students. Local communities such as the Chamber of commerce might have grants set up for students attending business courses.
This helps fund the future business owners in that area and thus might require the student to set up their business within a specific geographic region close to where the provider of the grant is located.
How To Find Them
One of the best ways to find out about local opportunities with grants and scholarships is through your counselor at school. They should have a large list of potential providers for you and can talk about any specific categories you might be able to apply to.
For more general scholarships take a look at this site which offers more in depth information on the subject.
