<p>Can any parent who has recently sold their soul for their child's first year of college let us know what lender they went with and their rate? I'm about ready to push the button, but would like the input of other parents.</p>
<p>Don't we have ANY parents out there looking for parent loans? I've tried asking this question two different ways, but I haven't received any helpful advice and am somewhat surprised by the lack of assistance.</p>
<p>Check with the school first for preferred lenders and special programs.</p>
<p>We actually decided to borrow on home equity for what we can't cover out of pocket. The line was already in place and although the rate is variable ( and rising!), it is tax deductible.<br>
My excuse for not being able to help out with suggestion on PLUS lenders! Hope someone else will chime in with more useful info.</p>
<p>I agree. The PLUS loan rates went through the roof this year. I took a loan on my home equity line and fixed the rate at 6.2 vs the PLUS rate of 8% + - I let the school know why I declined the PLUS loan this year - and their reply was good choice.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the information. I haven't pushed the button yet, but it does look dire...rate wise. Has anyone looked at Alternative Educational Loans? I'm trying my best to limit my risk, but it doesn't look that good right now. Can't do an equity line since I already have two mortgages. I've heard most of the equity lines now are around 8.0 this month. I guess I better do a few more searches.</p>
<p>Alternative loans aka private education loans are all credit based - they are varible rate and their repayment terms are usually unforgiving --- IF you have to come up with money and you have no other alternative I would suggest using the Parent PLUS loan. This loan is backed by the federal govt, the repayment terms are easier to deal with , as long as you do not have any 90day past due account on your credit , and you can borrower up the amount you need as certified by the school.</p>
<p>Payments on these loans start 60 days after the loan is fully disbursed and you can (with some lenders) get your payments deferred with an in-school forbearance (interest still accrues and you can either pay it or let it get capitalized when you go into repayment).</p>
<p>Also, alot of lenders are offering extra incentives on their parent (Student Stafford loan and consolidation loans too) - check these out because you get get breaks on the interest rate or money rebated - extra incentives that in the long run will save you alot of money.</p>
<p>I know in Ohio we have some special programs that are really terrific and can save you a bunch of money over the life of the loan IF you find you have to get a loan - ck out <a href="http://www.ohiolendingworks.org%5B/url%5D">www.ohiolendingworks.org</a></p>
<p>Are there any for NJ?</p>
<p>In NJ-</p>
<p>try</p>
<p><a href="http://www.hesaa.org/%5B/url%5D">http://www.hesaa.org/</a></p>
<p>New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA)
P.O. Box 540
Trenton,NJ - 08625
Phone: 800-792-8670</p>
<p>Check out their programs and services</p>
<p>Do you know of any for out of stater from Illlinois going to Wisconsin school?</p>
<p>Assistance Commission/IDAPP
1755 Lake Cook Road
Deerfield,IL - 60015 </p>
<p>Try this Illinois group -bascially the criteria for using a non-profit program in your state is that you are either a resident of that state no matter where you go to college OR you are going to college in that state no matter your state of residence. If you go to <a href="http://www.efc.org%5B/url%5D">www.efc.org</a> - this is the Education Finance Council - they work with a lot of state non-profits and you can view a list of these organizations in the various states.</p>
<p>For Stafford and PLUS loan and even some forgiveness programs using the state non-profit it your best bet - For Consolidation of your education loans you have more leaway in shopping around and are not limited by the state connection but sometimes it does help. </p>
<p>Here in the state of Ohio as the state designated non-profit we have the best programs for all of these types of loans and it is our mission to try to maintain that status for our families in Ohio - but we can still offer some services to non-ohians for the consolidation programs and these programs are still very competitive - so you really just need to shop around.</p>