Where Can I Find Low/No Interest Student Loans?

[leroyjenkens]

I've never had a student loan before, but I just looked at one and the interest was ridiculous. You end up paying more than twice the amount you received.
Is there, by any chance, a place that offers student loans at no interest, or very low interest?
Thanks.

 

[Mathnomalous]

Is it possible for you to attend college without taking out student loans?

 

[leroyjenkens]

Is it possible for you to attend college without taking out student loans?

I think so, but I would rather be safe than sorry; that is if I can find one that doesn't have much interest. I thought maybe you guys might have some secrets, like good places to get books for cheap, too.
Thanks for the response.

 

[kaos86]

I think all student loans will always have interest. If your thinking of getting a student loan, be sure to be a half-time or full-time student.

 

[czelaya]

I've never had a student loan before, but I just looked at one and the interest was ridiculous. You end up paying more than twice the amount you received.
Is there, by any chance, a place that offers student loans at no interest, or very low interest?
Thanks.

In the United States, there exist subdized student loans were the govermnet pays for the interest on the loan(s). You can begin the application process by filling out a FASFA form over the internet. FASFA is one method to attain financial aid. However, just like all government programs, the tax payers pay for the interest.

 

[lisab]

Just curious - what was the interest rate? If I remember right mine were in the 6-to-7% range, but that was about 25 years ago.

There's a perfectly legal way to get around paying so much for your loan: pay it back ahead of schedule. Pay more than the minimum monthy amount and you can save a lot of $$ over the long run.

 

[khemist]

I recently got a private student loan from wells fargo. I have fairly good credit, and my cosigner has outstanding credit, and I still received a 7.75% variable interest rate...

Try to get government loans. the interest is fixed and for subsidized loans the interest does not begin to accrue until 6 months after you finish school.

 

[leroyjenkens]

In the United States, there exist subdized student loans were the govermnet pays for the interest on the loan(s). You can begin the application process by filling out a FASFA form over the internet. FASFA is one method to attain financial aid. However, just like all government programs, the tax payers pay for the interest.

I did the FAFSA for a pell grant, but I can also do one for a loan?

Just curious - what was the interest rate? If I remember right mine were in the 6-to-7% range, but that was about 25 years ago.

Here's the website. It was the first result on my google search. I don't quite understand how their 10% APR turns into that amount.
http://www.salliemae.com/get_student_loan/apply_student_loan/interest_rates_fees/

I recently got a private student loan from wells fargo. I have fairly good credit, and my cosigner has outstanding credit, and I still received a 7.75% variable interest rate...

Do you know how much total you're going to have to pay in addition to what you borrowed?

Thanks for the responses.

 

[Jokerhelper]

Canada stays winning :tongue:

 

[Pengwuino]

Here's the website. It was the first result on my google search. I don't quite understand how their 10% APR turns into that amount.
http://www.salliemae.com/get_student_loan/apply_student_loan/interest_rates_fees/

What's not to get? Loans are nasty creatures. These aren't even half bad, you wouldn't want to know how much you end up paying on a 30 year loan on a house!

Actually, yes you do want to know. And you want to know as much about loans as possible before you dare get into one. People ruin their lives so easily with loans, it's not even funny. Also, the thing about student loans... you can't file bankruptcy to get out of them anymore.

 

[chingkui]

Be very careful with debt, don't end up like him:
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2010/05/25/am.cho.college.costs.part.2.cnn

 

[Vanadium 50]

Is there, by any chance, a place that offers student loans at no interest, or very low interest?

Why on Earth would anyone want to do that?

If I loan money to the US government, by buying a bond, I get about 3% interest on it, and a 100% chance of getting my money back. A 6 or 7% student loan has a higher interest rate, but the lender has only a 93% chance of getting his money back. The higher interest rate is needed to compensate for the additional risk - essentially, the good borrowers are subsidizing the deadbeats.

 

[diazona]

Is it possible for you to attend college without taking out student loans?

Sure, some colleges offer financial aid in the form of grants instead of loans, so you don't have to pay it back.

Also, there might be colleges whose tuition is low enough that it's within the amount of money you can reasonably earn in a year. Although I would expect these to be relatively low-profile colleges, maybe community colleges, not big-name research institutions.

 

[leroyjenkens]

Why on Earth would anyone want to do that?

Why would anyone want to give away money at all? There's grants, where you get money you don't have to pay back, then there's loans where you have interest you have to pay on it. Why couldn't there be a middle ground? A loan you don't have to pay interest on?

 

[Vanadium 50]

You have charities, and you have businesses. The middle ground, "businesses that lose money", tend not be around for very long.

 

[Pengwuino]

Why would anyone want to give away money at all? There's grants, where you get money you don't have to pay back, then there's loans where you have interest you have to pay on it. Why couldn't there be a middle ground? A loan you don't have to pay interest on?

Would you give a bunch of people you don't know $50,000 and say "just pay it back eventually"?

 

[deadkitty]

I'm currently going to school, and my loans are at 5.5% and 6.8%

 

[Choppy]

Another option worth looking into is a student line of credit. The difference between that and a loan is that with the LOC you can take money out only as needed and then while you're in school you only have to make payments on the interest.

This is of course, after you've balanced your studies with a part-time job in during the academic year and full-time work over the summer, and read cover-to-cover the bursaries guide (sometimes in the academic calendar) that your school publishes and applied for every scholarship that you qualify for (diligently noting that you are NOT automatically entered for every available scholarship).