| Graduate Loans Available To Students |
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Although it is a concern for most students that postgraduate education is so expensive, you can easily use graduate loans to tide over any funding issues. What stops you to avail graduate loans is only you not being aware about the various different options available specifically to you. Here is a brief summary of the options that can guide you towards a compatible loan that can partly at least finance your post graduate education.
At the outset it will relieve you to know that graduate loans for students are available to you from both government agencies and the private sector. Out of these two options, the one that can prove less burdensome for you from the repayment angle is the one from government agencies. The private sector does offer graduate loans to students but the disadvantage is that they carry a higher interest rate on them than on loans available from government agencies. On the other hand, government loans to graduate students can mean strict compliance to documentation requirements because of which some students may opt for private sector loans. Government loan offerings to graduate students are more or less having similar features as the government offerings of loans for undergraduate students. Government funded graduate loan offerings include the following. The Stafford Loan - It is available to any student regardless of any economics related criteria. You can opt between a subsidized and an unsubsidized loan. For the subsidized loan the good thing is that the US federal government bears part of the interest burden of repayment. For the unsubsidized loan, you or your parents bear the entire interest burden. In the latter case, you of course have the option of delaying repayment of the loan till you complete graduation. The Perkins Loan - It is available to students who can prove their economic hardship status. The interest rate on Perkins Loans is only 5%. However, a Perkins Loan can only finance your education to the extent of $4,000. Further, you need to make timely repayments against such a loan. Under certain extenuating circumstances, you can claim deferment of repayment of a Perkins loan till your fiscal situation improves. To apply for a Stafford or a Perkins loan, you need to first fill up and submit a FAFSA form to the US federal government. After due processing, the government will respond to you through a student aid report (SAR) informing you how to proceed further to obtain the loan. Private sector lenders such as banks and non-banking financial companies also offer graduate loans to students. They include student loans from Wells Fargo and TERI (The Education Resources Institute). The latter provides what is known as the Act Graduate Student Loan. The former hosts as many as five different loan offerings. They include the Wells Fargo Education Connection Loan, the Wells Fargo Graduate Loan, the and the Wells Fargo Collegiate Loan. They also include the Wells Fargo Advance Loan and the Wells Fargo Education Career Loan. Related Articles
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