Getting a Private Student Loan

After all the time you spent digging through your and your parents' taxes and filling out that annoying FAFSA, you only received a measly couple thousand dollars from the Federal government for your college education. At this point, you might be seriously depressed; you might even be considering whether or not it was a good idea to go to college in the first place. Maybe it's too expensive. Maybe you simply can't get the funding.

Or maybe you should apply for a private student loan. That's right—just because you haven't been awarded significant amounts in grants and in subsidized or unsubsidized student loans does not mean you cannot go to college. Nor does it mean you have to sign over your soul to some private loan contract that will allow your creditors to ruthlessly hunt you down as soon as school is out.

It's actually quite the contrary. If you don't get approved for enough in Federal loans to cover your education, you can always get a private student loan. In fact, many of the private student loan lenders are actually non-profit organizations that will not only provide you with low rates, but will also give you a repayment grace period, regardless of your credit history.

Of course, this is not always the case. In some instances—often depending on where you live—you might not be able to apply for a loan from one of these non-profit lenders. You might have to go strictly through a for profit lender, who will undoubtedly charge you higher rates than both non-profit and Federal sources; however, today, many of these private lenders are offering more attractive private student loan packages. Many of these packages include grace periods similar to that of the Federal government—between 6 and 12 months. Regardless of what channel you select for loans, it is always crucial to find the loans with the lowest interest rates, especially if they are fixed rates.