what is student loan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Ten things you may not know about images on Wikipedia •Jump to: navigation, search
Student loans are loans offered to students to assist in payment of the costs of professional education. These loans usually carry a lower interest rate than other loans and are usually issued by the government. Often they are supplemented by student grants which do not have to be repaid.
[edit] See also
Student loans in Australia
Student loans in Canada
Student loans in Denmark
Student loans in Germany
Student loans in Ireland
Student loans in New Zealand
Student loans in Norway
Student loans in Sweden
Student loans in the United Kingdom
Student loans in the United States
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_loan"
What Is A Student Loan?
By: John Mussi
Not everyone is aware of what is a student loan? Student loans, as the name implies, are available to students who require help with living costs while studying.
Student loans are part of the government's financial support package for degree only students embarking on a course of higher education. For most students, a student loan is their largest single source of income. So unless you have very generous parents, you will need to apply.
Regardless of where you are studying, if you are from England and Wales you will apply to your Local Education Authority using an HE1 form. They will then calculate how much you're entitled to receiving – as well as working out whether you need to pay tuition fees.
They will then send you back a form that you need to forward to the Student Loans Company (the government organisation that administers your student loan) who will process your application. This usually takes a month, so make sure you get the paperwork done well in advance of the start of term.
Although it is only a loan, you'll never be able to borrow money more cheaply, so it's the most cost-effective way of borrowing money while you're studying to pay for all those bills. The interest charged is only equal to the rate of inflation.
Unlike support towards tuition fees, you have to repay any loans. The Student Loan is repaid after you graduate (or after you leave the course, should you leave before completing). Repayments are calculated on a sliding scale and are repaid monthly directly to the Student Loan Company.
Should your salary fall below £10,000 payments are suspended until you earn above this figure again whereupon you will recommence payments. Interest on the Student Loan is calculated at a preferential rate which is far lower than any commercial bank loan rates.
Loans have the unfortunate tendency to mount up your debt. If you take the full £4,000 a year for three years that means you'll be £12,000 in debt by the end of your course – and if you're on a longer degree programme, that total could be even higher.
Student Loan Consolidation - How Does It Work?
By: Vanessa McHooley
Student loans are a great source of financial aid for students who need help paying for their education. Unfortunately, students often leave college with burdensome debt. In addition, they often have multiple loans from different lenders, meaning they are writing more than one loan repayment check each month. The solution to this problem is loan consolidation.
What is loan consolidation?
Loan consolidation means bundling all your student loans into a single loan with one lender and one repayment plan. You can think of loan consolidation as akin to refinancing a home mortgage. When you consolidate your student loans, the balances of your existing student loans are paid off, with the total balance rolling over into one consolidated loan. The end result is that you have only one student loan to pay on.
Both students and their parents can consolidate loans.
Should I consolidate my loans?
Loan consolidation offers many benefits:
- Locks in a fixed, usually lower, interest rate for the term of your loan, potentially saving you thousands of dollars (depending on the interest rates of your original loans)
- Lowers your monthly payment
- Combines your student loan payments into one monthly bill
In addition, consolidated loans have flexible repayment options and no fees, charges, or prepayment penalties. There are also no credit checks or co-signers required.
You should consider consolidating your loans if the consolidation loan would have a lower interest rate than your current loans, particularly if you are having trouble making you monthly payments. However, if you are close to paying off your existing loans, consolidation may not be worth it.
How will the interest rate for the consolidated loan be?
The interest rate for your consolidated loan is calculated by averaging the interest rate of all the loans being consolidated and then rounding up to the next one-eighth of one percent. The maximum interest rate is 8.25 percent.
To figure your interest rate, visit loanconsolidation.ed.gov for an online calculator that will do the math for you.
How much can I save?
How much you save by consolidating loans depends on what interest rate you get and whether you choose to extend your repayment plan. According to Sallie Mae, the leading provider of student loans in the United States, consolidating student loans can reduce monthly payments by up to 54 percent. However, the only way to reduce your payment this much is to extend your repayment plan. You typically have 10 years to repay student loans, but, depending on the amount you're consolidating, you can extend your repayment plan all the way up to 30 years. Remember that if you choose to extend your repayment term, it will take longer to pay off your overall debt and you'll pay more in interest. There are no preypayment penalties, so you can always choose to pay off the loan early.
Am I eligible to consolidate my loans?
In order to consolidate your loans, you must meet the following criteria:
- You are in your six-month grace period following graduation or you have started repaying your loans
- You have eligible loans totaling over $7,500
- You have more than one lender
- You have not already consolidated your student loans, or since consolidation you have gone back to school and acquired new student loans
The following types of loans can be consolidated:
- Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
- Federal Subsidized and Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans
- Direct PLUS Loans and Federal PLUS Loans
- Direct Consolidation Loans and Federal Consolidation Loans
- Guaranteed Student Loans
- Federal Insured Student Loans
- Federal Supplemental Loans for Students
- Auxiliary Loans to Assist Students
- Federal Perkins Loans
- National Direct Student Loans
- National Defense Student Loans
- Health Education Assistance Loans
- Health Professions Student Loans
- Loans for Disadvantaged Students
- Nursing Student Loans
Where can I get a consolidation loan?
You can consolidate your loans through any bank or credit union that participates in the Federal Family Education Loan Program, or directly from the U.S. Department of Education. The loan terms and conditions are generally the same, regardless of where you consolidate. You may want to check first with the lenders that hold your current loans.
If all your loans are with one lender, you must consolidate with that lender.
If you decide to consolidate your student loans, remember that you can only do so once unless you go back to school and take out more loans. Therefore, you will want to make sure you get the best deal the first time. The interest rate will be the same from all lenders, but some lenders may offer future rate discounts for prompt payment and a discount for having monthly payments directly debited from your account.
Can my spouse and I consolidate our loans together?
You can consolidate your loans together, but it is not a good idea for a couple reasons:
- Both of you will always be responsible to repay the loan, even if you later separate or divorce
- If you need to defer payment on the loan, both of you will have to meet the deferment criteria
When should I consolidate my loans?
You can consolidate your loans any time during your six-month grace period or after you have started repaying your loans. If you consolidate during your grace period, you may be able to get a lower interest rate. However, since you will lose the rest of the grace period, it is a good idea to wait until the fifth month of the grace period before consolidating. The consolidation process usually takes 30-45 days.
This article is distributed by NextStudent. At NextStudent, we believe that getting an education is the best investment you can make, and we're dedicated to helping you pursue your education dreams by making college funding as easy as possible. We invite you to learn more about how to get Student Loan Consolidation at http://www.NextStudent.com .
Student Loan Consolidation
By: Terje Ellingsen
Student loan consolidation is one of the most used methods for reducing and working off student debt. If you want to consolidate debt, whether it’s a student loan debt or not, you have to follow a certain process. However, this process is easy to follow and will absolutely not require big efforts from your side.
Here is what you have to know about the consolidation process: You combine all of your various student loans into one large loan. Instead of paying toward all your loans each month, you make one payment towards this one loan. So, what will I gain with this, you may ask. If you compare the numbers before and after you have consolidated your student debt, you'll understand that it's a very good deal.
To start out the working career with an overwhelming amount of debt is a daunting prospect to put it mildly. But the fact is that many college graduates unfortunately are facing this situation. Fortunately consolidating your student loans is a great way to meet the challenge of getting rid of the burden of debt from school or college.
The main benefit of consolidation is that you’ll normally pay a lower interest rate then compared to what your various loans are already set at. This works the same way as refinancing a home in order to have a lower mortgage payment. And be aware of the fact that the current interest rate is the lowest it has been in almost 40 years. When you do a consolidation you’ll pay one interest rate, not several different rates. And at the time you took these loans, the rates were probably higher.
And this means money saved: A lower interest rate on a relatively big loan can save you thousands of dollars in the long run. And in addition to this, some lending companies offer rate reductions for students consolidating their loans while they are in their grace period. A warning though: Stay away from companies that require you to start your payment immediately after the grace period. There are financing companies out there that don’t require this. Go to them!!!
And as if this wasn’t enough, some companies even offer additional rate reductions. I have heard about companies that reduce your rate by one percent if you make all of your payments on time for two years. And this comes in addition to the discounts described above. One percent may seem small, but if you see it in a perspective of, let’s say 20 years, which is a normal payback schedule, it can mean lots of dollars saved.
Another benefit with student debt consolidation is saving time and effort. It’s much easier to handle one payment monthly than several separate payments.
A convenient way to do the monthly payments is to let the loan company deduct it directly from your bank account. Some companies allow that. And if it is a really good student loan consolidation, it will even give you a little interest rate reduction by handling your loan payments this way.
So, if you find that loan consolidation is (in) for you, your challenge is to decide which loan consolidation company to approach and finally select. What I would recommend is that you make a list of all the questions you might have, call a few companies and speak with their representatives. Or you can go online to find a good student loan consolidation company. There are some great companies out there.
• Ten things you may not know about images on Wikipedia •Jump to: navigation, search
Student loans are loans offered to students to assist in payment of the costs of professional education. These loans usually carry a lower interest rate than other loans and are usually issued by the government. Often they are supplemented by student grants which do not have to be repaid.
[edit] See also
Student loans in Australia
Student loans in Canada
Student loans in Denmark
Student loans in Germany
Student loans in Ireland
Student loans in New Zealand
Student loans in Norway
Student loans in Sweden
Student loans in the United Kingdom
Student loans in the United States
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_loan"
What Is A Student Loan?
By: John Mussi
Not everyone is aware of what is a student loan? Student loans, as the name implies, are available to students who require help with living costs while studying.
Student loans are part of the government's financial support package for degree only students embarking on a course of higher education. For most students, a student loan is their largest single source of income. So unless you have very generous parents, you will need to apply.
Regardless of where you are studying, if you are from England and Wales you will apply to your Local Education Authority using an HE1 form. They will then calculate how much you're entitled to receiving – as well as working out whether you need to pay tuition fees.
They will then send you back a form that you need to forward to the Student Loans Company (the government organisation that administers your student loan) who will process your application. This usually takes a month, so make sure you get the paperwork done well in advance of the start of term.
Although it is only a loan, you'll never be able to borrow money more cheaply, so it's the most cost-effective way of borrowing money while you're studying to pay for all those bills. The interest charged is only equal to the rate of inflation.
Unlike support towards tuition fees, you have to repay any loans. The Student Loan is repaid after you graduate (or after you leave the course, should you leave before completing). Repayments are calculated on a sliding scale and are repaid monthly directly to the Student Loan Company.
Should your salary fall below £10,000 payments are suspended until you earn above this figure again whereupon you will recommence payments. Interest on the Student Loan is calculated at a preferential rate which is far lower than any commercial bank loan rates.
Loans have the unfortunate tendency to mount up your debt. If you take the full £4,000 a year for three years that means you'll be £12,000 in debt by the end of your course – and if you're on a longer degree programme, that total could be even higher.
Student Loan Consolidation - How Does It Work?
By: Vanessa McHooley
Student loans are a great source of financial aid for students who need help paying for their education. Unfortunately, students often leave college with burdensome debt. In addition, they often have multiple loans from different lenders, meaning they are writing more than one loan repayment check each month. The solution to this problem is loan consolidation.
What is loan consolidation?
Loan consolidation means bundling all your student loans into a single loan with one lender and one repayment plan. You can think of loan consolidation as akin to refinancing a home mortgage. When you consolidate your student loans, the balances of your existing student loans are paid off, with the total balance rolling over into one consolidated loan. The end result is that you have only one student loan to pay on.
Both students and their parents can consolidate loans.
Should I consolidate my loans?
Loan consolidation offers many benefits:
- Locks in a fixed, usually lower, interest rate for the term of your loan, potentially saving you thousands of dollars (depending on the interest rates of your original loans)
- Lowers your monthly payment
- Combines your student loan payments into one monthly bill
In addition, consolidated loans have flexible repayment options and no fees, charges, or prepayment penalties. There are also no credit checks or co-signers required.
You should consider consolidating your loans if the consolidation loan would have a lower interest rate than your current loans, particularly if you are having trouble making you monthly payments. However, if you are close to paying off your existing loans, consolidation may not be worth it.
How will the interest rate for the consolidated loan be?
The interest rate for your consolidated loan is calculated by averaging the interest rate of all the loans being consolidated and then rounding up to the next one-eighth of one percent. The maximum interest rate is 8.25 percent.
To figure your interest rate, visit loanconsolidation.ed.gov for an online calculator that will do the math for you.
How much can I save?
How much you save by consolidating loans depends on what interest rate you get and whether you choose to extend your repayment plan. According to Sallie Mae, the leading provider of student loans in the United States, consolidating student loans can reduce monthly payments by up to 54 percent. However, the only way to reduce your payment this much is to extend your repayment plan. You typically have 10 years to repay student loans, but, depending on the amount you're consolidating, you can extend your repayment plan all the way up to 30 years. Remember that if you choose to extend your repayment term, it will take longer to pay off your overall debt and you'll pay more in interest. There are no preypayment penalties, so you can always choose to pay off the loan early.
Am I eligible to consolidate my loans?
In order to consolidate your loans, you must meet the following criteria:
- You are in your six-month grace period following graduation or you have started repaying your loans
- You have eligible loans totaling over $7,500
- You have more than one lender
- You have not already consolidated your student loans, or since consolidation you have gone back to school and acquired new student loans
The following types of loans can be consolidated:
- Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
- Federal Subsidized and Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans
- Direct PLUS Loans and Federal PLUS Loans
- Direct Consolidation Loans and Federal Consolidation Loans
- Guaranteed Student Loans
- Federal Insured Student Loans
- Federal Supplemental Loans for Students
- Auxiliary Loans to Assist Students
- Federal Perkins Loans
- National Direct Student Loans
- National Defense Student Loans
- Health Education Assistance Loans
- Health Professions Student Loans
- Loans for Disadvantaged Students
- Nursing Student Loans
Where can I get a consolidation loan?
You can consolidate your loans through any bank or credit union that participates in the Federal Family Education Loan Program, or directly from the U.S. Department of Education. The loan terms and conditions are generally the same, regardless of where you consolidate. You may want to check first with the lenders that hold your current loans.
If all your loans are with one lender, you must consolidate with that lender.
If you decide to consolidate your student loans, remember that you can only do so once unless you go back to school and take out more loans. Therefore, you will want to make sure you get the best deal the first time. The interest rate will be the same from all lenders, but some lenders may offer future rate discounts for prompt payment and a discount for having monthly payments directly debited from your account.
Can my spouse and I consolidate our loans together?
You can consolidate your loans together, but it is not a good idea for a couple reasons:
- Both of you will always be responsible to repay the loan, even if you later separate or divorce
- If you need to defer payment on the loan, both of you will have to meet the deferment criteria
When should I consolidate my loans?
You can consolidate your loans any time during your six-month grace period or after you have started repaying your loans. If you consolidate during your grace period, you may be able to get a lower interest rate. However, since you will lose the rest of the grace period, it is a good idea to wait until the fifth month of the grace period before consolidating. The consolidation process usually takes 30-45 days.
This article is distributed by NextStudent. At NextStudent, we believe that getting an education is the best investment you can make, and we're dedicated to helping you pursue your education dreams by making college funding as easy as possible. We invite you to learn more about how to get Student Loan Consolidation at http://www.NextStudent.com .
Student Loan Consolidation
By: Terje Ellingsen
Student loan consolidation is one of the most used methods for reducing and working off student debt. If you want to consolidate debt, whether it’s a student loan debt or not, you have to follow a certain process. However, this process is easy to follow and will absolutely not require big efforts from your side.
Here is what you have to know about the consolidation process: You combine all of your various student loans into one large loan. Instead of paying toward all your loans each month, you make one payment towards this one loan. So, what will I gain with this, you may ask. If you compare the numbers before and after you have consolidated your student debt, you'll understand that it's a very good deal.
To start out the working career with an overwhelming amount of debt is a daunting prospect to put it mildly. But the fact is that many college graduates unfortunately are facing this situation. Fortunately consolidating your student loans is a great way to meet the challenge of getting rid of the burden of debt from school or college.
The main benefit of consolidation is that you’ll normally pay a lower interest rate then compared to what your various loans are already set at. This works the same way as refinancing a home in order to have a lower mortgage payment. And be aware of the fact that the current interest rate is the lowest it has been in almost 40 years. When you do a consolidation you’ll pay one interest rate, not several different rates. And at the time you took these loans, the rates were probably higher.
And this means money saved: A lower interest rate on a relatively big loan can save you thousands of dollars in the long run. And in addition to this, some lending companies offer rate reductions for students consolidating their loans while they are in their grace period. A warning though: Stay away from companies that require you to start your payment immediately after the grace period. There are financing companies out there that don’t require this. Go to them!!!
And as if this wasn’t enough, some companies even offer additional rate reductions. I have heard about companies that reduce your rate by one percent if you make all of your payments on time for two years. And this comes in addition to the discounts described above. One percent may seem small, but if you see it in a perspective of, let’s say 20 years, which is a normal payback schedule, it can mean lots of dollars saved.
Another benefit with student debt consolidation is saving time and effort. It’s much easier to handle one payment monthly than several separate payments.
A convenient way to do the monthly payments is to let the loan company deduct it directly from your bank account. Some companies allow that. And if it is a really good student loan consolidation, it will even give you a little interest rate reduction by handling your loan payments this way.
So, if you find that loan consolidation is (in) for you, your challenge is to decide which loan consolidation company to approach and finally select. What I would recommend is that you make a list of all the questions you might have, call a few companies and speak with their representatives. Or you can go online to find a good student loan consolidation company. There are some great companies out there.
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