Finance and Credit Professional

It is possible to pay for college with a federal student loan. This is usually referred to as post-secondary financing option.

Applying for a Federal Student Loan for College

The federal student loan program helps college students and their parents meet the cost of pursuing higher education. The first thing a student (or prospective student) needs to do is to fill out a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) form. It is available online or from the Financial Aid Office at post-secondary institutions.

The application is free and a student will not qualify for a federal student loan for college unless this application has been submitted. Within 30 days after submitting the FAFSA application, the student will receive a Student Aid Report (SAR) in the mail. A copy of the SAR is sent to the school the student is planning on attending.

Within two weeks after the SAR is received, the student will receive a letter from the Financial Aid Office of the school he or she is planning on attending. This letter will state how much financial aid the student will receive and how this financial assistance will be structured.

The award letter will indicate whether or not the student has been awarded the Stafford Federal Student Loan for college. If the Stafford Loan has been awarded, the student must fill out an application form in order to get the required promissory note. The student then signs the promissory note in order to receive the loan proceeds.

Once the promissory note is signed, it must be mailed to the office listed on the application form. It is a good idea to keep a copy of the promissory note for your own records. Stafford Loan recipients need to keep in mind that the funding offered is for one year only. A new FAFSA and loan application must be submitted each year.

If a student was not awarded a Stafford Student Loan, alternative sources of financing for college are available. It is possible to get financing for post-secondary studies from private sources. In the case of a person who gets approval for a Federal Student Loan for college but the amount of the loan is short of the amount of funding needed, this is a viable option. A private student loan center will be able to provide assistance to those people looking for alternate sources of financing for post-secondary education.

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