Federal Student Loan

What legal options does a cosigner have on a student loan when the student disappears?

The same options as anyone else who owes a valid debt they do not want to pay.

How To Apply For Student Loans?

Applying for a student loan would seem to be an overwhelming and complicated process unless it is completely understood. It is easier to make the process simpler and straightforward by just breaking the entire application procedure into three broad categories that include understanding one’s financial needs, applying for student loans and presenting the eligibility report to the desired school. With the advent of technology, student loan application procedure has become even faster and more convenient. A student needs to just submit an online application form available on the internet.

The first step in the application process is to have a proper estimate about how much finances would be required to complete the education. This estimate should include the tuition fees, living expenses, books, food and other miscellaneous expenses. There are various online tools such as Ed-Loans Wizard that could help in finding the exact estimate. Online sites also have tools like Education Loan Marketplace that help in comparing education costs of different schools.

The next step is the application procedure. Depending on the needs, a student could apply for a variety of federal and private student loans. Federal loans include Stafford loans, Perkins Loans, and PLUS loans for parents. Even private lenders offer a variety of loans aimed for different phases of education. Stafford loans are the most convenient and popular loans. Most of the students start with Stafford loans when applying for undergraduate and graduate student loans. All the federal loans have a single application called FAFSA that needs to be filled online.

Once the FAFSA form is filled, the loan application is processed. At the end of processing, the student in provided with a Student Aid Report (SAR) containing information about the amount of federally backed funding that the student is eligible for. This SAR has to be presented to the desired school so as to get the college acceptance letter.

How do you get a student loan without a co-signer?

Student loan without a co-signer

Federal loans (such as the stafford loan) are not based on your credit history. You will not need a co-signer, or good credit. With private loans there is no way around needing a good credit history.

Here is more input and advice:

• If you’re in foster care, talk to the people. There is a program which provides tuition, room and board money to children who were in foster care until they went to college.

• The answer above suggests Stafford loans as a solution. The problem with Federal Government loans like Stafford are that the student with no credit history can not fully fund their tuition with a Stafford loan. Stafford has very low limits (like 2,650.00 in freshman year). As a parent it was my expectation that my daughter would just get student loans on her own to fully pay for her own college without involving her parents. We can not afford to pay her tuition and have never started a college fund as we could not afford it. And now our income is better but we can not afford to pay it without changing our lifestyle. Anyway, I decided to help my daughter by applying for a PLUS Parent loan but was rejected due to bad credit. I was told that she can get additional Fed. Stafford funds up to another $4,000. That helps but she really needs the whole amount of the tuition and room/board. In this case she needs a total of $10,000 per year. Stafford sucks.. they should not cap the amount that can be borrowed. The student should be able to borrow the whole tuition amount without help from parents.

• Its a sad situation; my parents lost their jobs and i have been working free-lance on and off so i have no steady income or credit thus still dependent on my parents somewhat. My parents makes 45,000/per year combined so i filled out a form stating based on my condition i am not able to afford any other loans other than the Government Stafford loan. I only recieve a limit and wasnt able to recieve any more cause they said my parents income was kind of high even though they arent working. Come on now such hypocrisy; I filled out a special circumstances form but that would take 2 months, by that time school essentials would need to be met at couple weeks before school start. Only a mircale is needed, and none is presenting themselves. I did couple schlorships but when they are issued out it would be in mid-term, so i guess what other opinions are there? Parent Plus and Signature Loan i cant get that completed cause for one my parents have their own loans to pay off, they have no source of income right now, and finally their credit isnt that great. I explained this to my school but they say i must fill a form out which apparently is gonna take forever to be reviewed. Being a student well i should say being a young american and the seed for the future of this country my options are limited, im not saying the government should sponsor every child in its boundaries, but the ones who cant get an alternative loan should able to get the Stafford loan at its maximum because either way you put it we are still going to have to pay back the goverment money we borrowed with interest.

• FAFSA, is a very good thing to look into. www.fafsa.gov

• As long as you have a co-signer that makes above $19,000/year the question is more based on the student’s credit history than anything else. If the child is a ward of the state, then there are other options available and almost any school will have financial aid people that will assist. ANYONE who makes over $19k a year can cosign a loan UP TO THE COST OF ATTENDANCE FOR THAT YEAR MINUS ANY OTHER FINANCIAL AID. The parents credit matters, but not that much. The co-sign part is just so the lending institution knows they can go to the parent if the student defaults on the loan.

• It is impossible to get a student loan without a co-signer even if the co-signer makes over $19,000 as another person as suggested. I was the victim of a scam and my credit got ruined. My Dad has excellent credit but no one will approve a student loan with him as a co-signer because he’s only been at his current job for 6 months. My fiance has ok credit and makes almost $40,000 and they wouldn’t accept him as a co-signer either. I have applied to every bank and loan company I could find on the internet. I even started calling to find out their minimum credit scores to see if it would even be worth while to apply. I got the same answer each time “we don’t give out that information”. They all just wanted me to apply and “see” if I will get approved. I told them I know they wouldn’t approve me because I’ve applied to all of them before. (I was able to get some negatives off my credit report and raise the score to 610 but no one will tell me if that’s high enough and all want to run my credit again! That will show as an injuiry and cause it to go down even more!!)

• www.myrichuncle.com offers something called a Pre Prime loan that will give loans to students who have no credit and no co-signer. The only requirement is that the student not have bad credit. They also consider the student’s high school GPA and intended major as factors.

Should you use extra student loan money to pay off credit cards?

Student Loan Money

Suggestions below may be helpful(financially), but they are advising you to commit fraud. I have yet to read an education loan agreement (including private/alternative loans) that does not stipulate that the proceeds of the loan are for educational use only. For federal student loans, signing the promissory notes to obtain (or later consolidate) loans used to payoff credit cards may also be a separate (and federal) perjury offense. Having said that, here are the opinions:

I would suggest that you definitely utilize the money offered to you at a lower interest rate to pay off higher rate credit cards. Given that the average credit card carries an APR of 15% and the average student loan is 5% or less makes it to your advantage to get the 15% debt off your back. The only hampering factor you should consider is this: Is 5% of your total student loan annually going to cost you more than 15% of your total credit card debt? If not, than I would do it.

More input from FAQ Farmers:

Yes. It doesn’t matter whether 5% of your total student loan is more than the 15% of credit card debt. Either way, debt is debt and it all adds up to the same amount. The only key factor is interest and loans are definitely cheaper. The key to this being helpful is that you must keep paying down your credit card debt as you would have if you were making payments to the cc company. If you can’t do this, then just keep your credit card because you’ll end up leaving the credit card debt on the loan for so long that it will not turn out cheaper.

Can student loans cover off-campus housing?

Student Loans Covering Off-Campus Housing

Yes, you can use your student loans for anything you want related to college. Grants have to be used for tuition or books, but loans can be used for anything. I used mine to pay off credit cards I had used to pay for school the previous year.

Here are more opinions and answers from other FAQ Farmers:

• I have been told numerous times that whatever is left over from a grant and/or loan after it has been applied to your tuition is yours to spend as you see fit. They have no way of knowing what you spend it on.

• Yes, but…student loans are to be used for Cost of Attendance, which can include off-campus housing and living expenses. HOWEVER, your financial aid office at your school is the ultimate arbiter of what is legit. Most would agree that off-campus housing is legit. Now, I have heard tell of many things not-so-legit that student loan money gets used for. Sure, they cut you a check for the extra leftover money and how can they really know…? But be warned that if they find out you are doing something less-than-legit with loan funds, you might find yourself with your loans “decertified” and unable to get more. Not worth messing up your education to use loan funds to buy something inappropriate.