Thursday, March 24, 2011

What Is a Student Loan?

An educated society can help us maintain our super power status in today's world. We all know that education is very expensive in America and many people, due to this huge financial burden, quit studying after high school to take up employment. Our federal government has come up with several loans and scholarships to see to it that paying for college becomes easy. These loans are available to all Americans and the loan amount varies depending upon the field you wish to study in.

These loans are money given by the federal government, financial institutions or any lender to students who wish to study in colleges and universities. It helps to pay for tuition fees, books and living expenses. The two most important advantages of these loans are interest rates are very low, compared to other loans. Another advantage is you can pay it back after completing your studies and getting employed.

It is also known as education loan as it helps to pay for college. While in high school you can apply for a loan and as soon as you are ready to join college the money is paid to the college directly by the lender. Every school and college has a financial aid office that will help you to fill out the form that is essential to get a student loan. This is known as FAFSA which is the abbreviation for Free Application for Student Aid. It is very important to fill out FAFSA to be eligible for a student loan. Once you fill FAFSA then you are automatically eligible for loans, financial aid like scholarships and grants and so on. Depending upon your academic performance the college decides the financial aid.

There are two types of student loans; Private loans and federal loans. The federal loans are the Stafford loan, Perkins loan and Plus loan. Among the private loans: Sallie Mae student loans and Citi student loans are the popular ones. Astrive, Montecello, Wachovia are also private student loan companies that help students to pursue his/her dreams of entering college. There is no major difference between private loans and federal loans. Both offer the same benefits, ease and flexibility. The selection criterion is the same where as it is relatively easy to secure a private student loan.

More than $100 billion is set aside by the federal government for federal loans. The U.S Department of Education directly deals with the finance aid office of all colleges and universities for disbursal. Around $10 Billion is spent as private student loans. This easy money encourages students to equip themselves and gain knowledge which in turn helps them to lead a comfortable life. Education never goes to waste and a college degree certainly helps you to get a good job in corporate America. Whether you are applying for under graduate course or post-graduate course it is imperative that you understand the benefits and risks of taking a student to finance your studies. If you take out one than then you will have to realize that you will eventually have to pay it off.

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