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Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Introduction To Student Loans

Student loans are supposed to help students who are unable to bear their educational expenses. Student loans are different in different countries in the way they are devised, but then the common types of student loans available are the undergraduate loans, college student loans, private student loans & federal relatives educational loans. Most of the student loans are issued by the government usually with lower rates of interest when compared with the regular loans.

Student loan repayments are not made until the student completes his graduation. This facility helps him to concentrate on his studies & earn some small amount of funds while he is studying, but repayment has to start three times he finishes his schooling. There is a grace period of three months normally after the graduation, meant to be a cushioning period for the student to get in to a job & start earning. Under positive circumstances, the federal student loans can be forgiven on an income contingent plan after 25 years. Also the payments are necessary to be paid off within a maximum timeframe.

Private student loans are offered to the student based on the credit history of the applicant & the rate of interest also will be contingent on this criterion. People with lovely credit history will be provided student loans on a lower rate of interest & less fees. The advantage of private student loan is that, they have higher limits & also the repayment starts only after graduation. Private student loans can be utilized for purchasing computers, books etc. & payment of tuition fees.


Federal student loans are either given to the parents or to their wards directly. When the loan is availed by the student payments do not start when they are studying, but if it is given to their parents, they must make payments immediately. The loan limit may also higher in that case. Federal loans do not need any co-signer as they are not based on the credit history of the candidates.


The advantages of student loans over other kind of loans are given below:


The main advantage of availing student loan is that the rates of interest are very low & are very lenient. Even when the student enters his repayment period, there's plenty of repayment options available, which permit the student to pick from so that they can be changed, based on the financial condition to suit their needs with some restrictions. The loans can be repaid even over a period of 30 years. Also, if the financial situation becomes worse the student will be eligible to defer repayment till 3 years. Some loans may even be forgiven.


Strategies adopted by students when they start repaying their student loans are as follows:


It might take either 6 months or over that to get in to a job by a student. In such cases plenty of students take up temporary jobs, or part-time jobs, freelance jobs etc till they discover a permanent job. Some share their room rent expenses with their friends by living together with, or resides nearer to the workplace to cut down transportation costs. In times of financial crunch, a number of them apply for forbearance through a lender, this helps them to hold off the payment for few months. Some students even go for student loan consolidation, which might bring them some relief.


By: Rashid

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