Student loans are only part of the available funds for attending college. Scholarships may be sponsored by the school or by private agencies or individuals.
Grants also may be school or private. The best known, such as the Pell Grant or the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), are government sponsored.
Who can offer me a federal student loan?
Like these programs, federal student loans can be offered by the government or financial institutions. The government offers several federal student loan programs.
They are the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL), William D. Ford Federal Direct (Direct) Loan and Perkins/Nursing Student Loan Programs, in which funds are loaned directly to the student, and PLUS loans where the parent of the student is the borrower.
What is a federal student loan?
Federal Stafford loans are fixed-rate federal student loans for undergraduate and graduate students attending college at least half-time. Stafford loans are the most common and one of the lowest-cost ways to pay for school.
After graduation, be sure to remember your federal student loans. Think about your repayment options and consider student loan consolidation.
When you consolidate your Stafford loans, you are locking in today’s low rates and combining multiple payments into one lower monthly payment. Teachers and some other professionals may qualify for loan forgiveness programs.
Where does federal student loan come from?
The Federal Loan Consolidation Program was created in 1986. In 1998, the United States Congress changed the interest rate to the aforementioned fixed rate weighted mean, effective February 1, 1999.
Consolidation loans taken out before that date had a variable interest rate, determined by the individual FDLP loan origination center (e.g., in the case of a university, that university) or FFELP lender (e.g., a third party bank).
December 31st, 2009 at 2:56 am
Interesting reading. Wasn’t sure the feds had some money left to give out.
January 19th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
Student loans are a killer man. I think I’ll be 90 before I pay them all off…