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Wednesday, March 4, 2009

The Stafford Loan Explained

By Kay Riter

College is expensive. So expensive, that most people can pay for it all out of pocket. If you don't have a college fund all saved up, you have to work to save, apply for scholarships, and look for grants. In fact, your probably already doing this frantically.

A lucky few are born into wealth. They are fortunate enough to have their parents foot the bill for their entire college education. Other people are really smart and get full scholarships to college.

The majority of us have to pay for college all on our own. We try to scrimp by attending a community college first, going to a state school, applying for every scholarship available, and saving whatever we can. Unfortunately, if we still come up short, we have to take out a loan.

If you cringe at the thought of taking out a loan, don't worry. It's not as bad as it sounds. As long as you use it as a last resort and are careful with your money, taking out a loan for a college education will help you tremendously in the long run.

Your first student loan should be a government loan. The government will give you the lowest interest rate out there. Other personal loans will cost you more. You could even pay using a credit card, but that would be a huge mistake a cost you a lot down the road. First, look into the government Stafford Loan.

This affordable loan is available for use for college tuition at any two or four year university, college, or trade school. You are allowed to borrow up to $4,000 a year, every year. The Stafford Loan is available as subsidized or unsubsidized.

If you are in great financial need, you can get the subsidized loan in which the government will pay the interest on the loan until six months after you graduate. If you don't show great financial need, you can still get the unsubsidized loan in which the government won't pay any interest.

If you need to take out a loan for college, the Stafford loan should be the first place you look. It can help considerably. Just make sure you know you will have to pay it back and that you have a plan to do so.

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