How to Apply for Student Loans: Federal & Private

Unless their parents have specific savings for college or earn massive salaries, most students take student loans to finance their education. 

At first, the college loan process may seem complicated and mind-boggling. Since our team at Best Student Loan aims to simplify everything related to student loans for you, here’s a step-by-step guide to applying for them.

Let’s dive right into it to discover everything you need to know about applying for a student loan – private or federal.

Overview: How to Apply for Student Loans

You can submit most private loan applications online regardless of whether you’re considering a private or a federal loan.  While approval times may vary from lender to lender, most of them will let you know if you’re approved within a few days.

How to Apply for Private Student Loans

If you’re wondering how to apply for a private student loan, here’s the step-by-step process you’ll need to follow to apply for the best student loans:

Step 1: Research Your Options

The very first step you should take even before you apply for a student loan is to research your options. This is especially important because various lenders offer various interest rates and repayment terms. And these can affect the amount you’ll owe to a lender in the long run.

Since this is one of the crucial steps in the process, make sure to dedicate time to it and do thorough research before making a final decision.

Step 2: Apply for Your Preferred Private Student Loan 

Once you’ve made your decision and picked a lender, it’s time to fill and submit an application. Most private student loan lenders offer an online application, so you can submit it from the comfort of your home within a few minutes.

The private student loan applications usually require you to provide the following information:

  • Contact details, such as an email address, phone number, and mailing address
  • Personal information, such as date of birth, household income, and social security number
  • School information, such as the name of the school you’re attending, an estimated graduation date, and tuition fee
  • Requested loan amount

Step 3: Get Approved

Once you submit your student loan application form, the lender will review it and the approval process begins. 

Some private lenders use a manual review process which could take a few days. Others have an automatic procedure, providing you with an instant decision online. 

During the manual approval process, the lender will evaluate your credit history along with other criteria to see if you’re a reliable candidate for a student loan.

As a result, you’ll get any of the three statuses:

  • Approved
  • Denied
  • Eligible with a cosigner

If you’re denied, you’ll get a letter in the mail stating the reasons why your application got rejected. If you get a status “eligible with a cosigner,” it means that you’re approved to get a loan only if you add an eligible cosigner with good credit and income. The cosigner is an individual who will take equal responsibility for the loan together with you.

Step 4: Accept the Offer and Sign Your Loan Terms

After you get approved, all you’ve left to do is to review the final official loan offer and accept your loan terms. Make sure to understand your repayment terms before you sign the loan documents.

Step 5: Wait for School Certification

Finally, after you’ve signed the student loan documents, you’ve practically completed your private loan application process. Your lender and your school will collaborate to pay off your tuition until your repayment begins based on your loan terms.

How to Apply for Federal Student Loans

To apply for a federal student loan, first, you need to complete and submit the free application form for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

Based on the results of the FAFSA form, your college or career school will send you a financial aid offer, which may include a federal student loan. Finally, your school will explain what you need to do to accept it fully or just a part of the aid offered.

Ready to Apply for a Student Loan?

Now that you know how to apply, you may be wondering where to apply for student loans. If that’s the case, check out our article about the 6 best private student loans available.

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If you have any additional questions about how do you apply for student loans, feel free to contact us today.

Find tools to pursue your options. Best Student Loans lets you compare programs. 

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