Being a student in today’s world is dang expensive. I personally went to school at a private university and trust me, it wasn’t cheap. My parents are also broke, in fact the total amount they gave me over a 5 year period was about $750, and it came with strings attached. Anytime they felt like it they would call me to come help them around the house (definitely one of the disadvantages of going to school 90 miles away from home).
$750 was a lot of money for my parents and accepting that money was a huge mistake. It allowed my parents to exercise a lot of control over me, and if I could go back, I never would have taken it. I grew up in a very small town and my parents were pretty naive. They didn’t teach me about money and the honest truth is that I didn’t know about many of the options that are now (and were then) available to me.
The reason this simple website was born is simple: I was once a student that had bad credit and for me, paying for college was really difficult. If I had known about a few simple programs, my life would have been a lot easier. Now that I have a handle on how it all works, I want to be of some help to people out there. Finding student loans for people with bad credit isn’t nearly as difficult as it would seem. There are government and private programs out there and almost anyone that doesn’t have a lot of money can qualify for them.
Where To Start When Searching For Student Loans For People With Bad Credit
If you’re just getting started on your financing for college, start with Pell Grants. No, they aren’t student loans for bad credit - they’re much better. The federal government will gift you money each semester to help you cover the cost of school. This money never has to be paid back. Many people don’t apply for these because it seems like they would be hard to get. They aren’t.
If you still need funds on top of what you can get with Pell Grants (or if you can’t get Pell Grants), you are going to then take a look at subsidized Federal Stafford Loans. These loans are THE student loans for people with bad credit. The government pays the interest on these while you’re in school, and for six months after graduation. Your credit isn’t checked when you apply for Stafford loans - the government backs you up here and takes away the bank’s risk. The money will actually come from a bank, but you will need to visit your school’s financial aid office, fill out a FAFSA, and turn it in. The school will then let you know how much money is available for Pell Grants, for subsidized Stafford loans, and for unsubsidized Stafford loans.
Again, you are going to go with Pell Grants first, followed by student loans with bad credit such as Stafford loans, followed by unsubsidized Stafford loans (if necessary).
Unless you’re going to a crazy expensive school, you should be able to cover your expenses (including tuition) with just the options that are available through the government. However, if you do need to secure extra funds there are some private lenders that would be happy to help you out.
Getting private student loans for people with bad credit is tricky. Since the government doesn’t back you up, there is a lot of risk for the lender. This means that in most cases, you are going to have to find a cosigner to go the private route. Your cosigner will have to be employed and have good credit. If you’re like me, this could be a problem. My parents didn’t make much and didn’t have the best credit, not that they would have cosigned even if they could have.
Fortunately for me, the money that was available through the government would have been more than enough. Unfortunately, I had no idea that most of these programs even existed so I paid for my school by working my little fingers to the bone and taking semesters off when I didn’t have the money to pay tuition. That ended up being very dumb and if I could do things over again, I would have taken out some loan money. I would have finished school more quickly and that would have increased my earning power and lifetime earnings.
In other sections of this site, I will provide more detail about the different types of student loans for people with bad credit. Hopefully you can find what you’re looking for and please don’t hesitate to drop me a line if you have any questions or if you need any additional ’student loans bad credit’ information.