<p>Any advise on the best place to go for a student loan in NY? I was surprised to find out my bank has stopped issuing them last month!
Is there alternative's to Parent Plus loans other than home equity loans? I would rather son be responsible for paying the bill.</p>
<p>I assume your son has used up his annual allotment of subsidized and unsubsidized Federal Stafford loans? Everyone should use up that allotment per year before they look at alternatives. I also assume your son is an undergrad?</p>
<p>Federal Stafford loans are only available directly through the federal government. That changed a few years ago.</p>
<p>It will be extremely hard for a young college student to obtain private loans on their own, without a co-signer. The co-signer has full responsibility to pay back the loans if the student does not. You can have a written agreement with your son that he accepts responsibility to pay back those loans, but in the end, the lender can come back after the co-signer.</p>
<p>If you have really good credit, in the past, it was possible to find some private loans that were cheaper than Parent PLUS loans. However, the Parent PLUS loan interest rate went down for this school year. It will probably go up for new loans taken out in future years, as inflation increases. </p>
<p>There are some private colleges that have their own loan programs. </p>
<p>If you are eligible for some financial aid, you can double check and see if your college has any leftover Perkins federal low interest loans available. They are loaned out again after they are paid back by other students, and some students who were offered the loan may have dropped out.</p>
<p>I don’t know anything specific about what is available in New York state. You can check the website of the NY state agency that handles grants to college students.</p>
<p>If you have some unexpected expenses that you need to cover, you can look for a credit card offer that offers a year with no interest being charged. There typically is an upfront fee of about 3%. However, if you are a minute late with the last payment, they can charge you the full interest for the entire period.</p>
<p>Is this the same son that can’t even stay within his monthly budget? If so, straddling him with more debt is a terrible idea.</p>
<p>Yes it is, and times are tough right now, so not sure if there is a choice.</p>