Often times a student who is starting graduate school has to dip into both of these markets….once they exhaust Federal loans (the Stafford and the Grad Plus loan)…they then look to the private loan market. Due to the fact that graduate school is so expensive…a prospective grad student usually has to utilize a private loan to get them through their graduate school studies. There are many types of graduate loans out there…which makes it important for a student to do their research. Here are some things to look at while comparing graduate loan products:
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| This is the fee charged to the borrower…so if there is a 5% origination fee…it is 5% of the loan amount you are borrowing. So for a 20,000 loan you will be charged $1000 |
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| Repayment & Deferment Options |
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| Repayment and Deferment options - a lot of students are not thinking about repaying the loan…they are focusing on getting their school paid for…but if you take out a loan with harsh repayment terms…you will have a difficult time repaying it…and what good is a graduate degree if you can’t earn what your graduate degree is worth because you cant get out of debt? So look for acceptable repayment terms…6 month grace period after graduation, deferment options, and flexible loan terms.
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| Borrower Benefits - you need to look for what types of discounts will be offered to you once you do begin repaying….will you get a discount off your rate after you make a certain amount of payments? Will you get a discount if you sign up for auto debit every month?
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Every prospective graduate student should know what they are getting themselves into….you should feel comfortable with the terms of the loan. Don’t go into this blindly…it will not benefit you in the future. You are choosing to better yourself by continuing on to a higher Education…make sure you aren’t setting yourself up to fail. Here are some helpful sites for more on this topic:
Graduate Private Loan
Graduate Stafford Loan
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