What Is a Private Student Loan?

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Private student loans are sums of money that you get from private institutions like national and local banks, credit unions, and online lenders. These private lenders offer private student loans as ways to help you pay for higher education, whether you are taking undergraduate or graduate studies.

If you’re proceeding to advance your law or medical degree, you’d be looking for financial aid to support law school or medical school. Private student loans can offer the funds you need for paying tuition, room and board, and additional education-related fees.

To answer your questions about what a private student loan is, this article discusses the qualifications you need to apply for one, what interest rates look like, and how you would go about paying off a private student loan.

How to Qualify for a Private Student Loan

As a student loan applicant, you are a borrower. To qualify as a private student loan borrower, you need both a good credit score and a steady income. The private lenders offering private student loans confirm these qualifications before approving your application.

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You’ll need to provide official financial documents to prove that you have a stable income. Income tax statements usually are sufficient pieces of evidence. If you have no steady income, you may get a co-signer to help apply for the private student loan.

Depending on the private student loan you apply for, a co-signer can either be your spouse, a relative, guardian, or friend. Your co-signer must meet the basic requirements to qualify for a student loan, in place of you, as the borrower. So, they need both a good credit score and a steady income.

Private parent loans are also available to fund your education. With private parent loans, your parents would be the borrower. These private loans usually don’t allow co-signers. So, your parents need both a good credit score and a steady income to qualify as the borrower.

How Much Does a Private Student Loan Offer?

Private student loan lenders offer various limits depending on your capacity to take on debt. The lowest amount you can borrow from a private lender is usually $1,000 and the maximum amount you can borrow usually follows the certified amount of money it costs to attend your school, minus existing financial aid.

In other words, a private lender may lend you as much money as it costs to go to the university you’re enrolled in. Meanwhile, other lenders may specify a maximum amount that goes as high as $500,000 for a lifetime maximum.

Private Student Loan Interest Rates

Interest rates vary per lender, so be sure to compare the interest rates of every private student loan lender you intend to borrow from before taking out a loan. Private student loan interest rates are either fixed or variable.

Fixed Rates: Your interest rate remains the same throughout your private student loan’s lifetime.
Variable Rates: Your interest rate may increase or decrease over the course of your student loan’s lifetime.

High interest rates mean you are paying more for the money you are borrowing. You may decrease your private student loan interest rates if you or your co-signer have an excellent credit score. The higher your or your co-signer’s credit score and income are, the better your chances are of qualifying for a private student loan with low interest rates.

Even if you don’t get the lowest interest rate when applying for a private student loan, you may decrease your interest rate by refinancing your student loan. Refinancing a private student loan involves a repayment term that you negotiate with your lender. You or your co-signer must meet credit score and income requirements that the private lender of your choice sets to qualify for refinancing.

Paying For Private Student Loans

Confirm your repayment terms with your private student loan lender of choice. The average terms range between five and 15 years of repayment. Some lenders will offer a ten-year repayment term, giving you ten years to pay off your private student loan with interest.

Ask your lender if they allow deferred payments. If you can defer your private student loan payments, you can start paying off your loan when you leave school. Some private lenders provide a six-month grace period before they start collecting.

If your private lender of choice does not allow you to defer payments, they usually expect you to pay only the interest or small, fixed amounts while you’re enrolled. Once you leave school, your lender may ask for larger repayment amounts.