Student Loans -

How to apply for a student loan (FAFSA)
How to repay student loans
How to have one low monthly school loan payment
Defaulting on a student loan
Repayment Plans

Repaying your student loans

What you need to know about repaying student loans...
After you graduate, leave school, or drop below half-time enrollment, you have a period of time before you have to begin repayment. This “grace period” will be six months for a Federal (FFEL) or Direct Stafford Loan. nine months for Federal Perkins Loans (If you’re a parent reading this and you have a FFEL or Direct PLUS Loan, you don’t have a grace period—repayment generally must begin within 60 days after the loan is fully disbursed.)

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If you’ve attended college or received other education beyond high school, and you received federal student loans from the US Department of Education (ED) along the way - You’re now about to deal with paying them back. You’ll need to know how to manage your student loan debt to avoid repayment problems.
There are several available repayment options so you can successfully repay your debt. Federal student loans are real loans, just like car loans or mortgage loans. You can’t just get out of repaying a student loan if your financial circumstances become difficult, unless you qualify for bankruptcy. But, it’s very difficult to have federal student loans discharged in bankruptcy; this happens only rarely. Also, you can’t cancel your student loans if you didn’t get the education you expected, didn’t get the job you expected, or didn’t complete your education, unless you leave school for a reason that qualifies you for a discharge of your loan - Remember, your student loans belong to you; you have to pay them back.

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Loan Consolidation

A Consolidation Loan allows you to combine all the federal student loans you received to finance your college education into a single loan.
New Provisions Permitting Borrowers to Enter Repayment Early Under the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended and the Department's regulations, a borrower can request a repayment schedule that provides for repayment to commence at a date that is earlier than six months after the date the borrower ceases to carry at least one-half the normal full time academic workload.
If the lender grants the request, the loan enters the repayment period and the borrower waives any applicable grace period. This is the case even if the borrower is currently enrolled in school. Such a borrower will be eligible to obtain a consolidation loan to repay the loan on which early conversion to repayment was granted, assuming all other eligibility criteria are met. As stated above, the borrower waives any applicable grace period, now and in the future.

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To apply for a Direct Loan Consolidation or an FFEL Consolidation the borrower must contact the lender and complete an application. Most lenders provide borrowers with the ability to apply on-line or request an application over the telephone. Once an application is completed and submitted, the lender will request information from the borrower’s other lenders or from its own system to determine the amounts outstanding on the borrowers loans. The borrower will then receive notification about the consolidation loan, normal consumer disclosures, the amount owed, and if appropriate, where to make payments.

Consolidation loans have fixed interest rates that are based on the weighted average of the interest rates on the loans being consolidated. A lender can provide a new consolidation loan borrower with the lowest statutory weighted average interest rate for loans by using the lower of the weighted average of the interest rates on the loans being consolidated as of July 1 or the date the lender received the borrower's consolidation loan application. The lender should apply a consistent method of determining when an application is received.


Lenders' Options for Determining Federal Consolidation Loan Interest Rates and Permitting Borrowers to Enter Repayment Early
If the lender determines that the borrower is still enrolled, the lender can put the loan that will now be in repayment, into an in-school deferment status at the borrower's request. The interest rate on the loan would be the deferment rate. If the borrower consolidates the Stafford Loan, the deferment interest rate should be used in calculating the weighted average interest rate on the consolidation loan.


Repayment Plans

When repaying your student loan, you have some choices in repayment plans (for FFEL and Direct Loans) that can make repaying easier and help you avoid delinquency or default. If you’re delinquent, it means you’re late making a scheduled loan payment (most often, you’re 30 days or more late). Default, explained in more detail (see default page), generally means you’re 270 days or more late in making a loan payment. (Note that for Federal Perkins Loans, however, default is defined as the failure to make an installment payment when due or the failure to comply with other terms of your promissory note or written repayment agreement.)
Although default is more serious than delinquency, even delinquency can be reported to credit bureaus. A delinquency notation remains part of your financial history and could affect your credit rating. Repaying your loan on time will help you establish and maintain a good credit rating, which is crucial when you want to buy a car or a house, or even if you want to rent an apartment. Sometimes, your credit rating can even affect whether you’ll be selected for a particular job. It’s important to keep paying on your student loans!

Defaulting on your Student Loans

If you default, it means you failed to make payments on your student loan according to the terms of your promissory note, the binding legal document you signed at the time you took out your loan. In other words, you failed to make your loan payments as scheduled. Your school, the financial institution that made or owns your loan, your loan guarantor, and the federal government all can take action to recover the money you owe. Here are some consequences of default:
National credit bureaus can be notified of your default, which will harm your credit rating, making it hard to buy a car or a house.
You would be ineligible for additional federal student aid if you decided to return to school.
Loan payments can be deducted from your paycheck.
State and federal income tax refunds can be withheld and applied toward the amount you owe.
You will have to pay late fees and collection costs on top of what you already owe.
You can be sued.

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How to Apply for a Student Loan
U.S. Department of Education - FAFSA
Gather the documents you need
Start with your Social Security Number, driver's license, income tax return, bank statements and investment records.

Print a FAFSA on the Web Worksheet
Write in your answers and gather your parent's information then transfer the data to FAFSA on the Web.

Plan how to sign your FAFSA
Sign electronically with a U.S. Department of Education Personal Identification Number (PIN) or by mailing in a signature page.

Apply for a PIN now!
Speed up the process by signing your FAFSA electronically with your PIN. Your parent can sign electronically too.

Check your eligibility for federal student aid.

Note important deadlines

To meet the Federal Student Financial Aid deadline:

Apply as early as possible beginning January 1st of each year.
Schools and states have their own deadlines. Contact them for exact deadline dates.