Paying for college can be a difficult process. Searching for easy to qualify for student loans, college grants, scholarships and financial aid sometimes seems even more so. Add to that a bad credit borrower and paying for college may even seem IMPOSSIBLE!

Tuition costs are rising daily, and more and more students and parents are searching for ways to fund their education.

Funding Your Education

The best place to start when looking to fund your education is to look for college grants and scholarships. These free funding sources help pay for college and do not require the recipient to pay them back.

There are several thousand scholarships available, totaling billions of dollars to help cover a student’s tuition. Each one often has very specific applicant criteria which can help limit the number of candidates and make it more likely that you will be able to find a scholarship you qualify to win.

There are also need-based grants like the Pell Grant, provided by the federal government that offers funding for students that find themselves in significant financial need. These grants also do not need to be paid back.

When scholarships and grants are not enough, students and parents turn to loans in order to fund the rest of the student’s education.

Federal Student Loans

Federal student loans are the best way to cover the cost of a student’s tuition. The Stafford and Perkins loans are non-credit based, meaning that you do not need to maintain a high credit score in order to receive the funding.

All you need is to demonstrate financial need. These loans have lower interest rates than private loans, and offer several payment plans and benefits to those that qualify, allowing individuals to pay them back without severely affecting their budgets.

While the Stafford and Perkins loans are two types of poor credit student loans, the federal parent PLUS loan does require the parent to have good credit. However, the amount of the loan can cover the rest of the costs of tuition, and still has a lower interest rate than many private loans.

Private Student Loans

When federal loans are not enough, many students turn to private student loans to cover the cost of their education. These loans require good credit (or a cosigner with good credit) and tend to have higher interest rates than federal loans.

They do, however, offer very high loan amounts, so they are able to cover the remaining tuition costs. There are also several private lenders available, so borrowers can shop around for a good rate before deciding to take out a loan from one of these private lenders.

Student Loan Consolidation

While all of these funding sources are useful for paying for a student’s education, they can be difficult to manage once the individual has left college. These loans may have been taken out separately, or have extremely high interest rates, and these multiple high payments are difficult to budget and manage.

This is why college loan consolidation is highly recommended. Consolidating your loans allows for one single monthly payment at a generally low, fixed interest rate. By keeping these payments together, it is easier to make payments on time and avoid missing a payment or defaulting on your loans, which can negatively impact your credit scores.

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Within this website you will find useful information on scholarships, loans, consolidation, and debt for college students. Should you come across a word of phrase that you do not understand, be sure to check out our Student Loan Glossary for a definition.