| With education costs continuing to increase year on | | | | Regrettably at this point although you will have begun |
| year it is becoming increasingly difficult to source the | | | | to build your portfolio it is unlikely that this will give you |
| funds necessary for a college education and more | | | | enough funds and you will now need to begin casting |
| and more students spend more time thinking about | | | | your net wider and will have two paths to follow. |
| raising the money needed than they do working at | | | | If you can get the help and support of either a parent |
| their studies. As if this was not bad enough in itself all | | | | or guardian then they can apply for a federal student |
| too many students find that once they have graduated | | | | PLUS loan to cover the shortfall between the money |
| they are saddled with so much loan debt that it quite | | | | you have been able to find yourself and the overall |
| simply drags them down and will probably take many | | | | cost of attending college. Student PLUS loans are |
| years to pay off. Now, if this seems to be a grim | | | | conditional upon the guardian or parent having a |
| picture then for a lot of students the problem of | | | | reasonable credit rating but the requirements are |
| funding an education is compounded by a requirement | | | | generally not as stringent as those which would be |
| to raise the funds needed without having a cosigner to | | | | applied by a private lender. |
| their loan applications. | | | | If you do not have a guardian or parent you can turn |
| College funding today is not simply a matter of turning | | | | to or simply decide to go it alone then you will need to |
| to one single source of finance for the majority of | | | | seek a private loan and just how easy that will be will |
| students but is a matter of creating a portfolio of funds | | | | depend to a large extent on your personal credit |
| from various different sources. | | | | history. In the majority of cases private lenders will be |
| The first action for every student must be to try to | | | | quite happy to offer you a loan as long as you have a |
| find scholarships and grants. Far too many students | | | | good credit rating and will require you to have a |
| simply ignore this source of effectively free money | | | | cosigner if you do not have a credit history against |
| altogether and yet it is surprising just how many | | | | which they can make their decision or have a bad |
| scholarships and grants are available today. In a lot of | | | | credit history. However, with more and more people |
| cases of course the sums of money in question are | | | | with a poor credit history nowadays there is also an |
| reasonably small but nonetheless can be very useful | | | | increasing number of private lenders who are |
| as one part of your total funding plan. | | | | prepared to offer loans without the requirement for a |
| The next source of funding should be federal loan | | | | cosigner and so it is simply a question of shopping |
| funding through schemes such as Stafford and | | | | around. |
| Perkins loans which you can get as both subsidized | | | | A bad credit loan with no need for a cosigner will of |
| and unsubsidized loans. Perkins loans especially useful | | | | course be more expensive than a normal good credit |
| because of their low rate of interest but are also the | | | | loan although if you take your time and shop around |
| hardest loans to get and require a student to | | | | carefully you will find a loan at a fair rather than |
| demonstrate particular financial need. | | | | extortionate interest rate. |