Student Loans Info: Perkins Loans

Apply For Student Loans That Are Federal

There are two types of loans, federal and private, both of which serve their place on the quest for college money. Federal loans, those lended either directly or indirectly from the governement should always be applied for first as:

Interest percentages are much lower.

They have more flexible repayment plans, like the Income Based Repayment (IBR), which allows the borrower to have a monthly payment which equates to around 10 to 15 percent of their monthly income.

These federal student loans come in the form of three different types which are; Stafford Loans, Perkins Loans and PLUS loans, which some of them have the subsidized option, which is where your eligibility is based soley off financial need, as well as unsubsidized, which eligiblity is not based of financial need.

In order to apply for student loans that are federal, all applicants must fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid also known as a FAFSA, which will determine, through the Ecpected Family Contribution (EFC) section, how much money the student will be eligible for in the form of federal loans. Besides being able to find out how much money is going to be made available in the form of federal student loans through FAFSA, the applicant will also be able to find out information on other forms of financial aid like;

Federal grants, like the Pell Grant which offers students up to 5,550 dollars per year, which doesnt have to be paid back, among others.

Work study programs

Apply For Student Loans That Are Private

Private student loans should be your last resort when you set out to apply for student loans. These loans are made availabe through private lenders like banks and institutions among others, which are there to provide you with the ammount of money that federal loans as well as any other financial aid you are receiving, didn’t cover. In order to get the best private student loans, a couple tips that are good to follow are;

Either have good credit, or find a co-signer who does, which a co-signer can be anyone from a parent to a friend. To make your chances of eligiblity the best for private student loans, do your best to get a credit score that is higher than 700. This will avoid rejection of your application as well as come with lower interest rates and other fees.

Applying for student loans that are private come with two different types of interest, both LIBOR and PRIME. The best private student loans come with rates that are; LIBOR 2.0% and PRIME .50%.

Find loans that come with no “activation” or “origination” fees, both meaning the same, which is the fee for taking out a loan.

Student Loan Limits
When it coems time to pay tuition, it can be tough gathering all the money you need together, so you may be concerned with what student loan limits are at, and how they can assist you in providing enough funding to be able to pay for your tuition. Being that there are both private and federal student loan limits, we will discect the limits for each, showing you the range of what you can qualify for when going to apply for loans.

Federal Student Loan Limts

Stafford Loans
Stafford Loans come in the form of both subsidized or needs based loans, as well as unsubidized, or not based off of financial needs. The student loan limts for Stafford Loans differ for both subsidized and usubsidized, and are currently set at:

Subsidized – Student loan limits are set for each year of schooling for subsidized Staffords Loans, and range from; 1st years up to $3,500, 2nd years up to $4,500 and 3rd years and above who have a limit of $5,500. Graduate loan limits are set at up to $6,500 per year. Lifetime loan limits are set at up to $23,000
Unsubsidized – For unsubsidized Stafford Loans, they have categories of both dependent and independent students, with loan limits for students that are independent being much hire. Loan limits for dependent students are up to $2,000 per year no matter what year you are in, and up to $8,000 throughout the lifetime of ones schooling. The independent student loan limits are; up to $6,000 for both the 2st and 2nd years, from the 3rd year on loan limits are up to $7,000 and for graduates their borrowing limits are up to $12,000 each year. The lifetime borrowing limits are set at #34,500 for the Stafford Loan Program.

Perkins Loans

Student loan limits for Federal Perkins Loans are set at up to $5,500 per year for undergraduates, and up to $8,500 per year for graduates. Their lifetime loan limits are set at $27,500 for undergraduates and at $60,000 for the cumulative studies of both undergraduates and graduates.

PLUS Loans

PLUS Loan differ from that of the loans programs mentioned above as they are for parents who apply for loans that are designated for their dependant children. The loans limits students can enjoy with PLUS Loans are the “Cost of Attendence” minus whatever other student aid they are receiving.

Private Student Loan Limits

When it comes to the private student loan limits, one gets more free reign on things, as you can borrow how ever much you need to compensate for what your federal student aid didn’t cover. So say, for example, your costs of attendance is $20,000 for the year, and you received $2000 from the Pell Grant Program, $4000 from the Stafford Loan Program and $1000 from any other source of federal student aid, totaling your feder student aid to $7000, your student loan limits for borrowing from a private lender would be set at $13,000. Now private student loans can be great and can help you cover the rest of your tuition costs, but they tend to come with higher interest rates as well as less flexible repayment terms, compared to federal loans, so the best method to use when going and applying for private student loans is to take somebody who has an awesome credit score, like 750 or higher, which will both drop the interest rates lower than what you would have paid with bad credit, as well as set your up for other discounts.
(The student loan limits used above are for examples purposes, and by no means represent what you may or may not recieved in federal loan money.)