Informational Resources in the Brick and Mortar World for Student Loans
One of the best informational resources on student loans is the financial aid office at the school you are or hope to be attending. The people that work there are trained to answer student loan questions and deal with financial aid on a daily basis. They can provide you with the forms you will need to fill out, starting with the FAFSA of course, and then explain to you the differences between the various types of financial aid that are offered. Many times they can give discouraged college students options that they may not have previously considered. The financial aid offices can also help with questions about work-study and scholarships.
Financial aid offices of many colleges and universities are also becoming very adept at reaching out to high school students who have made application to one or another of these institutions. In these instances, these financial aid offices will begin to provide preliminary information to a student that has made application. If the college or university extends an invitation for admission, the financial aid office will begin to work very closely with a student should that student show a strong inclination towards accepting an invitation for admission. In the end, financial aid offices usually turn out to be invaluable in their assistance to students heading to college.
Another place in the brick and mortar world to go for information on student loans is your local bank, savings and loan, or credit union. After all, these places all provide the money for some student loans, and they have trained loan agents who can discuss your options with you and help break down the different facets of each one until you find the choice that is best for you. The student loans that these institutions usually offer are of the Federal Family Education Loan Programs variety (FFELP). These loans are funded with private capital through the bank or credit union and students who take out these loans are given basically the same options as people taking out a personal or consumer loan through the bank. Some of these institutions will allow a discount for automatic payments or a certain series of on time payments.
Commercial lending institutions, understanding the competition they face on many levels in this day and age, are more aggressively recruiting students and their parents in order to extend loans to these individuals for educational purposes. Therefore, you really will want to keep your neighborhood bank on your list of resources as you undertake the process of seeking financing options to fund your higher education.
An interesting development in recent years has been the creation of consultancy services that provide a range of assistance to the college bound student. One example of the type of assistance that these consultants do provide is assistance in regard to financing the college or university experience. This includes assisting the student with making application for the most appropriate type of student loan.