Getting College Money Without The Need For A Cosigner
by Donald SaundersAs the costs of education continue to increase each year it is getting increasingly difficult to find the funds necessary for a college education and many students spend more time worrying about raising the funds needed than they do concentrating on their studies. If this were not bad enough all too many students discover that once they have left college they are saddled with so much loan debt that it simply drags them down and will take years to repay. If this seems to be a grim picture then for many students the problem of financing a college education is compounded by a requirement to raise the necessary funds without the availability of a cosigner to their loan applications.
Nowadays college funding is not merely a matter of looking to a single source of finance for most students but is a matter of building a portfolio of funds from a range of different sources.
The first action for all students should be to look for grants and scholarships. Most students simply ignore this source of effectively free money altogether and yet it is surprising just how many grants and scholarships are on offer these days. In most cases of course the sums of money in question are reasonably small but nonetheless can be extremely helpful as a part of your total funding plan.
The next source of funding should be federal loans through schemes like Stafford and Perkins loans which are granted as both subsidized and unsubsidized loans. Perkins loans especially useful because of their low interest rate but are also the most difficult loans to get and need a student to demonstrate financial need.
Regrettably at this point although you will have begun to create your portfolio it is unlikely that this will provide you with sufficient funds and you will now need to start casting your net wider and will have two paths to follow.
If you are fortunate enough to have the assistance and support of a guardian or parent then they can apply for a federal student PLUS loan to cover the difference between the funding that you have been able to obtain yourself and the overall cost of attending college. Student PLUS loans are subject to your parent or guardian having a fairly good credit history but the requirements are generally not as strict as those which would be applied by private lenders.
If you do not have a parent or guardian to whom you can turn or simply decide to go it alone then you will need to find a loan from a private lender and exactly how easy that will be will depend to a large degree on your personal credit history. In most cases private lenders will be happy to offer you a loan as long as you have a good credit history and will require you to have a cosigner if you have no credit history against which they can make their lending decision or have a bad credit history. Nonetheless, with a growing number of people with a poor or bad credit history these days there is also a growing number of private lenders who will offer loans without the requirement for a cosigner and so it is merely a case of shopping around.
A bad credit loan without a requirement for a cosigner will naturally be more expensive than a normal good credit loan but if you take your time and shop around with care you will find a loan at a reasonable rather than extortionate interest rate.