How to Get the Best Student Loan

For many students, higher education requires borrowing. Learn how to select the best loan for your education.

The Top Line

• Student loans are an unwanted necessity for many, but you can help yourself immensely by doing the work required to find the best student loan for your situation.
• There are many factors to consider when picking a student loan. Make sure that you take into account all of the possible factors that will come into play such as interest rate, terms, and the lender.
• The partner and lender that you choose for your student loan matters. You will want to work with a partner that you can trust and depend on.

If you are attempting to gain a higher education, then you are well aware that one of the main obstacles on the path to getting a degree is the high cost of tuition. Tuition is not something that many people can pay for without financing. With so many options to choose from, choosing the best student loan can quickly become overwhelming and prompt you to want to just choose the first option that comes along.

A student loan is a financial obligation that has implications that extend years into the future. If you want to get the most out of your student loan and get a student loan that isn't going to bog down your financial future, then it's important to put a lot of thought into how to get the best student loan. This decision can save you thousands of dollars over the life of your loan and cost you thousands if no care and attention are given to this very important decision.

The best student loans to obtain are those from the federal government. Federal student loans offer the best interest rates and repayment options. However, if you find that you need more funds to pay for college than are offered by federal student loans, then you may utilize private student loans.

This guide focuses on private student loans and will walk you through some of the knowledge that you will need to have if you hope to find the best student loan for your needs and your own unique situation. With this knowledge in mind, you will have everything you need to make an important decision that will affect your financial well-being for years to come.

Factors in Choosing the Best Student Loans

When it comes to choosing a student loan for your education, it’s important that you realize all of the factors that will inevitably come into play. Choosing the best student loan is not simply a matter of choosing the first loan offer that comes your way. It can be a complicated, lengthy process with many factors to consider. If you want to end up with the best student loan offer for your unique situation, then you should take the following factors into consideration while going through the process.

Interest Rate

The first and perhaps most obvious factor to take into consideration is the interest rate that you are offered. The interest rate is one of the first things that you should look at whenever you are considering a student loan offer. That is because the interest rate will tell you how affordable the loan is, how much you are going to end up paying for the loan, and how much flexibility you’re going to have when it comes to payments made during the lifespan of the loan.

Interest rates on student loans vary wildly and often depend on the credit score of your co-signer, current lending rates, and which provider you end up going through. Student loan interest rates can range from 1% to approximately 15%. As you can imagine, this huge range lends itself to many different possibilities and if you choose a student loan at the higher end of this spectrum, it could cause you to pay many thousands more dollars on your loan and take many years longer to pay it off completely.

In addition to the interest rate, you should figure out if a variable or fixed rate is the best option for you. A variable rate may start lower but may increase over time while a fixed rate offers stable payments over time.

A large loan can take several years to pay off and even decades. If you want to choose the best student loan for you, then the interest rate should be at the top of your wish list.

Term

Another very important factor is the length of the loan that you are considering. The length of your loan will play a large part in determining a number of details about your loan and your plan to pay it back. A longer-term loan can generally mean that your payments might be lower each month. While it's great to have a more affordable payment, this can also mean that in the long-term, you will end up paying much more for the loan. This could cost you thousands of dollars.

The best way to think of the term is that if you can afford a higher payment, it is well worth it to take a shorter-term in order to pay off the loan sooner. This way of dealing with your student loans will lead to less paid over the course of the loan. However, if you need more affordable monthly payments, it may be worth it to lengthen the term of the loan. If this is the case, you should seek the lowest interest rate possible to decrease the effect of the longer term of the loan.

Also investigate if you will be able to change your options for repaying based on your financial situation. You may need to pause payments or lower them if you become unemployed or have another life change.

Partner Reputation

When you are applying for a student loan, you might be nervous about your eligibility for the loan. Though this is a justified feeling, you have to remember that you are still the consumer and you still have the power. That means that you should be just as selective in choosing a partner to do business with as they should in choosing the applicants that they end up approving. Make sure that you do your due diligence and pick a partner that has products and services that fit your needs and has a good reputation among lenders.

Types of Student Loans

One factor that should come into play is the type of student loans that are available to you. You should always select a student lender that has the options that are specifically designed to meet your needs.

There are various types of student loans out there, with many looking to meet the needs of those with budget requirements and coming from disadvantaged communities and demographics. If you are hoping to get the best student loan, you should familiarize yourself with these options and which ones are applicable to your situation.

Planning for Choosing the Best Student Loans

Part of the process of choosing and getting the best student loan is preparation. If you want to be able to find the best student loan, then you need to be great at preparation and take the time that is required to find the best option for you. Taking the first option that comes along is almost never the best option. Be sure to do your due diligence and ensure that you are indeed getting the best option possible.