Student loan consolidation is the key to a good education

Loan consolidation is one of the intelligent economic moves any person with multiple loans can do. Loan consolidation is very common amongst students, graduates and that's why student loan consolidation is such a popular subject nowadays.

What is loan consolidation? This basically means that a lot of loans are gathered up into one making paying of all the debts easier. Loan consolidation has a lot of advantages and virtually no disadvantages. First of all, the good thing is that you don't have to write an "insane" amount of checks every month for different creditors. Secondly, there is the advantage of the cumulated interest rate. It is usually lower that all the interest rates put together which means that you will save money.

Having explained the term "loan consolidation" another question remains unanswered: what is student loan consolidation? As you might know very few people afford to pay off their collage. The students go out and get a loan so they can stay in school. This is a special kind of loan because you don't start paying it right after you get it. The payment starts after the person that has made the loan finishes college. Usually getting through college is not very cheap so students make more than one loan. When they have to start paying several expenses, they look at a student loan consolidation program as their best option. A student loan consolidation program means that the student gets to pay off more loans with the help of only one loan. By the end, he will find himself with only one payment per month and with more money in his pockets. A student consolidation loan is a good idea because it's easier to handle less paper work and save some money from the lower interest at the same time.

Student loan consolidation is not always a good idea. There are a few arguments to sustain the fact that the student consolidation loan is a good idea. After graduation, a student has a six month period when he can get a student consolidation loan or he can get it after he has started paying off the loans he already has. So, there is a six-month period after finishing college when he can look for a job. He usually doesn't start paying for the loans he has made right away. The best time to start a student loan consolidation program is the fifth month of that six-month period (just before the time runs out). This is a very good move because the necessary paper work takes around a month to be ready. By the end of that period you will have only one payment to worry about. The worst time to get a student consolidation loan is after you've already started paying back the loans and you're almost done. This isn't a bright move because the student consolidation loan or the student loan consolidation program will spread over a long period of time. So there's no point in getting a five-year loan when you have only one more year to finish paying all the other debts you have.

Another type of loan used for higher education is the PLUS loan. This kind of loans can be made by parents for their children. The Ministry of Education usually gives these loans, but banks can give them also. From a parent's point of view, only one PLUS loan could be insufficient depending on the college you plan to send your children to. So a parent can and should get more the one PLUS loan. Similar to the student loan consolidation case, there are a lot of PLUS loan consolidation programs. PLUS loan consolidation and student consolidation loans are almost the same: the benefits of a PLUS loan consolidation program are the same as the ones from a student loan consolidation program - only one creditor to pay off and low interest rates. If you are thinking of making a PLUS loan through a PLUS loan consolidation program and starting it with your life partner (so both of you can pay), it is not such a bright idea. In case the couple gets separated, there will be a lot of difficulties. It is better to have only one person involved in the PLUS loan consolidation. If both parents make a PLUS loan and one of them starts a PLUS loan consolidation program, he or she can include the loan made by the husband/spouse in his/her program.

Education is very important if you want to succeed in life. Nowadays, without a proper education, it's very difficult to get a good job. One thing leads to another: no place to work means no money and no decent standard of life. Either you're a student or a parent you should realize these things and try to give yourself or your children the best chances of accomplishment. Everything evolves around money so, if you are a student and need money to go to a good college, you should make a loan to pay of the tuition taxes. After that, you can pay off all the loans you made through a student loan consolidation program.

If you are a parent and consider yourself wise, you should take care of your children's education. A PLUS loan or more of this kind should do the trick. You needn't worry about paying them off because through the PLUS loan consolidation programs everything is made as simple as possible. Even the child can get a student consolidation loan to pay off the PLUS loan made by the parents. Anyway, if you're looking for this type of loan you are probably aware of its benefits. Student consolidation loans will make your life easier and help you in getting exactly you want.

Resource box: If you are either a student interested in making your life easier or a parent trying to do the best for his child, student loan consolidation or plus loan consolidation are your best options.

College Debt Consolidation - Shed College Debts at Low Cost

Having a college education is expensive these days and students therefore incur debts as they have to borrow to meet various expenses. But there is a way out for students. They can get rid of debts through college debt consolidation.

College debt consolidation is useful for students either former or current students, in lessening debt burden. This they can do by taking a college debt consolidation loan from a new lender. The loan is used in immediate pay off of the debts. Since the borrowed amount from the new lender is at least equal to college debts of a student, the loan merges all debts in itself. Now instead of paying installments to number of lenders, the student pays installments to one lender. As college debt consolidation is done at lower interest rate, the student saves lot of money that was going waste in paying higher interest on debts.

College debt consolidation is done by taking a secured or unsecured loan. Secured collage debt consolidation loan is provided on condition of student offering collateral to the lender. The loan is offered at lower interest rate and for a larger repayment period and greater amount can be borrowed. On the other hand the unsecured loan requires no collateral and instead student's repayment capacity plays a crucial role. The unsecured loan comes at higher interest rate with smaller repayment duration and smaller amount.

There are two main sources that a student may have taken previous loans. These sources are federal government and private institutions. Interest rate charged by federal government is always lower than the one charged by private institutions. So if your loans were from federal government, there is no logic in consolidating them with loans to be taken from private institutions.

You may also be labeled as bad credit in the loan market. In such case you should search for lenders who specialize in giving loan for debt consolidation to bad credit students. They may relax terms-conditions.

Make an extensive search on internet for the suitable lender and as you find them in plenty you can compare their interest rate and conditions. For fast approval of the loan for the debt consolidation, prefer applying online to the lender. Online lenders take no fee on loan application processing or offering any information regarding the loan which reduces the loan availing cost.

College debt consolidation enables student in reducing debt burden. Take the loan for the debt consolidation only after taking its different aspects into consideration.

Education Loans - Meet Collage Expenses at Low Cost Finance

Higher education has become costlier for a student so much so that an education loan is now considered a necessity. As a consequence there are now more sources available to a student for taking education loans. Students are now in a better position of availing education loan as per their requirements.

There are two main sources of education loans. One source is the government funded loans and the other is private lenders. Usually students prefer taking education loans from government bodies as they can provide a subsidized loan. The advantage of subsidized education loans is that they are cheaper. The subsidy is provided by the Federal Government in USA and by the finance ministry in other countries. On the other hand, private lenders will charge an interest rate on education loans. There is a Federal family education loan program that is considered as most useful because it provides affordable and flexible options regarding educational loans. Under the program students are charged a very lower interest rate on education loans and students are given convenient and larger repayment duration.

Students do not have to face any problems in paying back education loans. All lenders either subsidized loan providers or private lenders, give students ample time for clearing the loan. Students are not working people and hence do not earn sufficiently for immediately starting paying back education loans. Students can start paying back federal educational loans six months after they have finished their collage education. Usually ten year repayment duration is offered for education loans. For greater educational loans the repayment duration may be larger.

Some requirements are to be followed for education loans. The student applying for education loans must have attained the age of eighteen years. If the student is applying for a private education loan then he or she is expected to bring a co-signer along with. Credit report of the student also may be required for the loan. Usually credit unions provide educational loans on taking a property of student like a vehicle as collateral.

As far as paying interest rate is concerned, a student has the option of paying or not paying during the collage education term. However if some amount is paid towards interest then it becomes a lot easier for the student to pay off the remaining amount after he has completed collage education.

Before applying to a particular lender, compare terms-conditions and interest rates of different lenders. These lenders can be approached on their web sites. Surely education loans are of a great help to student who are going for a collage education.

Direct Student Loans - Low Cost Funding Of Collage Education

Collage education is costlier and if the funds are not available easily, it may be a huge impediment in the way of seeking education further. Direct student loans come to the rescue of the needy students who have finished school and entering collage education which demands host of expenditures.

Direct student loans are low interest rate loans that are provided to the students. Direct student loans are offered by the US Department of Education. The biggest attraction of direct student loan is that it does not involve a private lender like a bank and the student is directly borrowing from the federal government.

For covering all types of students, direct student loans are available in subsidized and unsubsidized options. The federal government subsidizes the interest rate and students are not charged the rate of interest as long as they are taking collage education. On the other hand a subsidized direct student loan is offered to the students on the basis that the interest rate will be charged from the time of the loan approved till it is paid back completely. The loan amount for subsidized direct student loans ranges from £2625 to £8500 and increases each year. On unsubsidized direct student loans the loan amount ranges from £4000 to £10000 and increases each year.

As far as repayment plan of direct student loans is concerned, the students are given sufficient duration. Direct student loans can be return back in 10 to 25 years. If the student is unable to pay off the loan amount in time and wants to defer the payment, then there are number of provision under direct student loans for doing so. On some condition he can surely extend the repayment duration as suits him or her. However the student may have to pay some penalties for not paying the loan back in time.

You are automatically a direct student loan candidate as you fill a free form for Federal Student Aid. All a student has to do then is give his acceptance for taking the loan and t he loan amount is deposited in the account of the student.

Poor Credit Student Loans for low cost collage education

A student who is aspiring for college studies has enough loan opportunities even if he has been labeled as poor credit borrower. Poor credit student loans are now easily available to poor credit students as there are various options open to them in taking a loan. This simply means that you can attend college despite poor credit. For poor credit students there are number of government loans which are approved without looking into your bad or good credit.

For instance a poor credit student can opt for Federal Stafford Loans which come in subsidized or unsubsidized options. With this loan credit does not matters at all to the lender as this is a governmental loan. The subsidized loan is approved on the basis of the economic needs of the student. The interest is subsidized by the federal government and so the loan is cheaper for a student. The government pays the accruing interest on the loan. On the other hands the unsubsidized loans are provided irrespective of the economic condition of the student. But the student shall have to pay interest. The interest will start accruing from the day the student is paid out the loan.

As far as the loan amount is concerned it increases for each academic year that the student passes. The repayment of Federal Stafford Loans is kept flexible. Usually the student is allowed to repay the loan in 10 years. The student can also avail an extended repayment duration. The loan amount is disbursed by the college or university you are attending. So Federal Stafford loans are best suited for poor credit student loans as these loans are approved despite poor credit. The loan application for these loans can be had from anywhere including college, university or you can go directly to the Federal Government's website for the application. Also there are many student loan websites who offer tips in sourcing the student loans. Explore them for detailed information about many features of the loan.

Cheap Student Loans - make collage studies less burdensome

Collage studies are always very costly as lots of expenses are involved. The student has to pay for costly books, hostel accommodation, tuition fee and host of other expenses. So a loan becomes inevitable for most of the students. The loan should also come at cheaper rate so that the student feels no burden while concentrating on studies. cheap student loan therefore attain importance for a student.

When we speak of cheap student loan, clearly we mean that the loan should be of lower interest rate. There are many ways available to a student that he takes a loan at cheap rate. The best considered way is to look for student loans that are sponsored by the state governments who provide subsidy on the loan and so the student pays less interest on them. Such cheap student loans come at relaxed repayment duration and options as well.

In case you are taking a student loan from private lender, then the rate of interest gets cheaper if you are willing to provide some security to the lender. Of course a student usually does not own a property, and so his parents can take the loan for the student on offering the security. On securing the loan amount the lender will surely offer student loan at cheaper rate of interest.

If a student has bad credit due to late payments or payment defaults on previous loans, the best way to take student loans at cheap rate is to have a co-signer. Your parents or any person who has a good credit can co-sign for a student loan. Excellent or good credit of the co-signer gives more assurance of the safe return of the loan amount and lender therefore is willing to reduce the rate of interest. Make sure to compare lenders who claim of providing cheaper rate on student loans for a suitable deal.

Student Loan Debt Consolidation - reduce debt burden smoothly

Collage studies require a student to take loans from many sources, resulting in the student paying loan installments to different lenders and so the burden of the loan increases. If the burden results in debts than it becomes difficult for a student to go for higher studies as he may find it harder to get a new loan. So it is better that he opts for Student Loan Debt Consolidation. When a student goes for a loan debt consolidation it simply means that he intends to reduce the loan repayment burden. This the student can do by reducing or eliminating the principal amount or by reducing monthly payment. Student Loan Debt Consolidation is usually availed for paying off all debts immediately as debt usually are of higher interest rates. A student can avail debt consolidation loan at lower interest rates. So, all loans are consolidated under one new loan which also means that instead of paying installments to more lenders, the student can now easily pay installments to one new lender. Usually this one payment is of fewer amounts than payment on different loans. So the student saves lot of money. Loan for debt consolidation also gives repayment choices to the student. So for reducing the monthly outgo for the loan installments, the student can opt for larger repayment duration of the loan.

Students should note that in case they have federal student loans, they can take government student loan consolidation under which both subsidized and unsubsidized loans can be consolidated. You can also take a consolidation loan from private lenders who require you to offer some security of the loan or they can provide unsecured loan at higher interest rates. It is advisable that if you have both federal and private loans, you should consolidate them separately and do not mix them. First consolidate your federal loans and then separately consolidate private loans. This is because federal loans carry low rate of interest as compared to private loans. Bad credit students are also provided loan for debt consolidation without hurdles. Make good comparison of different lenders providing consolidation loan to the students so that you apply to a suitable lender.

Collage Student Car Loans

Car is a necessity for a collage going students as a car not only saves the time which can be utilized for other purpose meaningfully but saves also the money that goes waste in public transportation fare. However as students seldom are in a position of buying a car from own money, they generally opt for taking a loan. It would be even better and wiser if they take a collage student car loan that is especially designed for them. Lenders providing College Student Car Loan know the requirements and limitations of a collage student and so the loan comes at relaxed terms-conditions.

College Student Car Loan are approved under secured or unsecured options. A student generally does not have any valuable property by his name so he can ask his parent to provide for the security of the loan. Secured collage student car loans have the advantage of lower interest rate which eases the repayment burden substantially. The loan amount never exceeds the value of the car. If you do not want to risk property, then you can opt for unsecured collage student car loans that come without collateral. The loan amount however will be smaller and would be offered at higher interest rate.

If a collage student has bad credit due to past late payments, arrears, payment defaults etc mentioned in his or her credit report, then the best way of taking collage student car loans is to arrange for a co-signer who has excellent or good credit history. This way interest rate on College Student Car Loan gets reduced. Your parent can also be the co-signer. If your credit score is below 625 then some lender may require you to be earning a monthly income of say $1500. So check the terms and condition of different lenders providing collage student car loans.

Make sure that you buy a quality new or used car from the loan. You should be very careful that the car dealer is reliable. Pay off the loan installments in time so that you avoid any debts.

Federal student loan consolidation

In the United States both the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) and the Federal Direct Student Loan Program (FDLP) include consolidation loans that allow students to consolidate Stafford Loans, PLUS Loans, and Federal Perkins Loans into one single debt. This results in reduced monthly repayments and a longer term for the loan. Unlike the other loans, consolidation loans have a fixed interest rate for the life of the loan

Interest rates and payments
Consolidation loans have longer terms than other loans. Debtors can choose terms of 10–30 years. Although the monthly repayments are lower, the total amount paid over the term of the loan is higher than would be paid with other loans. The fixed interest rate is calculated as the the weighted average of the interest rates of the loans being consolidated, assigning relative weights according to the amounts borrowed, rounded up to the nearest 0.125%, and capped at 8.25%. Some features of the original consolidated loans, such as postgraduation grace periods and special forgiveness circumstances, are not carried over into the consolidation loan, and consolidation loans are not universally suitable for all debtors.

History
The Federal Loan Consolidation Program was created in 1986. In 1998, the United States Congress changed the interest rate to the aforementioned fixed rate weighted mean, effective February 1, 1999. Consolidation loans taken out before that date had a variable interest rate, determined by the individual FDLP loan origination center (e.g., in the case of a university, that university) or FFELP lender (e.g., a third party bank).[3][4]

In 2005, the Government Accountability Office considered consolidating consolidation loans so that they were exclusively managed through the FDLP. Based on several assumptions about future variations in interest rates, the loan volume, the percentage of defaulters, cost estimates from the United States Department of Education, it concluded that while doing so would incur an additional cost of $46 million, caused by the higher administrative costs of the FDLP compared to the FFELP, this would be offset by a $3,100 million saving comprised in part of avoiding $2,500 million in subsidy costs.[1]

Do High Fees Imply High Profits?

Whether a company earns too much or too little cannot be analyzed only by multiplying the fees they charge with the amount of products they sell. The costs of the production, distribution, etc. need also to be taken into account. The same happens when it comes to analyzing payday loan lenders’ profits...

Every company wants to obtain a profit and no one that is acting commercially will lend money out of the goodness of his heart. Yet, lenders dealing with low risk clients and offering regular personal loans with the proper credit verification processes for approval charge lower interests or fees. Thus, there must be a justifiable reason for the high fees charged by payday loan lenders.

What Kind Of Customer Requires Payday Loans?

This is an important question because the niche that lenders address with payday loans is a very particular gap of the financial market which is not filled by other financial products. Payday loans are meant to help those who run into an emergency situation and need the funds to cope with it. They are short term loans, carry small amounts and high fees as explained.

The problem is that those who need financial assistance for such emergencies obviously do not have the savings that they would need to face it. And though it is possible that some unexpected situation may cause that lack of savings, chances are that the one seeking a payday loan for such purposes has a null savings capacity and consequently either a low income or high expenses (or most commonly both).

The Risks Involved In The Transaction

So, what is to be expected of such customers? Truth is that the market analyses show a very high default ratio. Thus, simple math rules that high fees are needed to ensure any kind of profit. If I charge $1 every $100 (12% APR) I would get $1000 in profits every 100 customers borrowing $1000. But if 10% of the borrowers default on the loan, I would be loosing $9000.

Instead, payday loan lenders may charge $10 every $100. With the above example and a 10% default rate, they would still make no profit at all. Yet, payday loan lenders have more customers, charge additional fees and make use of different methods to reduce the default ratio to a minimum. They do what every company does: minimize loses and maximize revenues.

Payday Loan Lenders Are Not The Devil

Now that we have de-demonized payday loan lenders, we should explain how payday loans are correctly used because if there is a devil and it is not the lender, it surely is the misuse of payday loans.

Prior to applying for a Badcreditloanservices.com payday loan you need to be absolutely sure that your income will make repayment feasible. If you have doubts about your upcoming income (whether it is your salary or other source) you should refrain from requesting a payday loan.

But most importantly, payday loans should never be used as a regular supply of funds. They are meant for emergencies and thus, they should be used exceptionally and only as a last resort. If due to your credit, you can not apply for other kind of loans, make sure to obtain assistance to repair your credit and cut on your expenses so you will not need to use payday loans as a usual source of financing.

College Loans

Education is now becoming an increasingly important determinant of your future success, but its costs are also continuously rising. How do you cope? You can take out a collage loan. Here, we compare the terms of some college loans available to help you find the right one for your situation.

There are several basic and important features of college loans, including interest rates, out-of-pocket fees, approval time, and comprehensiveness.

Collage loan interest rates vary, but as a general rule, the rate should not exceed 8.25 percent per annum. The rate should also be fixed so that you don’t have to worry about having to pay increasing amounts year after year. Any college loan with a higher interest rate is just not worth it – if you do take out such a loan, you will find yourself shackled in debt the minute you graduate. Some people even file for bankruptcy because of their college loans, so don’t fall prey.

Out-of-pocket fees are an important feature of college loans. As a student, your budget is already limited and you can definitely do away with costly application and processing fees. You should not have to pay more than a few dollars in order to get your application moving. You should also be entitled to grace periods of about half a year between graduation and repayment, and you should have the option to defer if you re-enroll, without paying too much in processing fees.

You can’t afford to wait for the next semester to enroll, and your college loan provider should understand that. Some loans are approved in as little as three to five working days, especially if you are studying in smaller colleges where there are fewer applications. Otherwise, it’s a good idea to file your college application several months ahead to avoid the long queues.

Comprehensiveness is another feature you should examine. Different kinds of loans cover different kinds of educational fees, and your choice should really depend on what you need. Some loans only cover the cost of attendance (counting tuition and other miscellaneous expenses), but some even cover room and board (which is especially helpful to international and out-of-state students or those with heavy unit loads that force them to live on campus).

College Loans provides detailed information on College Loans, College Loans And Grants, Consolidate College Loans, Bad Credit College Loans and more. College Loans is affiliated with Private Education Loans.

AP's Primer on Borrowing for College

Amid Swirling Scandal Headlines, Associated Press Gives Primer on Borrowing for College


If they haven't already, millions of seniors graduating from high school will turn their attention over the next few weeks to paying for college.
Scholarships and grants -- which don't have to be paid back -- are the best option, of course. But not everyone has the academic record for merit aid, or a great jump shot that would earn a sports scholarship. About two-thirds of four-year college students who graduate do so with some debt -- typically about $19,000.

Many are confused by the patchwork of programs and options for borrowing, and get stuck with more debt than they should. And this year, there's a new wrinkle: An investigation by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has exposed questionable financial arrangements -- he calls them "kickbacks" -- involving lending companies and universities. Cuomo also has accused the Education Department of being asleep at the switch in regulating the $85 billion industry.

The whole situation has called into question whether the advice many students get is really unbiased. The Associated Press collected advice from published resources and some independent experts on borrowing for college.

In question-and-answer form, this is their advice.

Q: Where should I look for a loan first?

A: That one's easy: Uncle Sam.

The federal government helps students borrow in several ways: through direct loans, by subsidizing interest payments, and by encouraging private lenders to lend to students. Which of these programs you qualify for depends on your school and level of need.

In virtually all cases, government loans are a better deal than private loans, so max them out before borrowing elsewhere.

Q: How do I get started?

A: Fill out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) form at the Department of Education Web site. It's kind of a pain, but it's worth it. If you plan to attend next fall, and haven't yet filled out the FAFSA, you may have missed some deadlines for state aid or aid from your college. But it's not too late to get federal aid. If you're planning for college further down the line, the Education Department's Web site has a new FAFSA calculator that will estimate what kind of federal aid you're eligible for.

Q: What kind of loans will I be offered?

A: The chief federal loan program is the Stafford loan, which will let dependent freshmen borrow up to $3,500 next year (more for upperclassmen). For students with high financial need, the government pays interest on at least a portion of that while you're in school. But anyone -- regardless of family income -- can take out an unsubsidized Stafford, which still lets you defer payments until after graduation.

Depending on your school, you may be offered a Stafford directly from the government. Or you may take out a government-guaranteed Stafford loan that's provided by private lenders such as banks.

If you have high need, you may also be offered a Perkins loan. That's also subsidized by the government, and a great deal, with 5 percent interest and other favorable terms. But the borrowing limits are $4,000 per year for undergraduates.

Q: I've borrowed what I can through these programs but it's not enough. What now?

A: Here's where it starts to get tricky.

One option is for your parents to borrow money for you, through a PLUS loan -- another government program. Parents can borrow up to the full cost of attendance (including room and board and books), and one advantage for parents is they can consolidate these loans later.

But there are big downsides for parents, too. The biggest is that parents -- not their children -- are on the hook. And many experts tell parents to fund their own retirement savings before taking out a loan to pay for college for their children. There are lots of ways for students to pay for college, but it's very hard to catch up on retirement savings, says Ivan Nalibotsky, a financial aid adviser with Capital Solutions Group in Bethesda, Md.

If you're a parent who wants to help your kids and need to borrow, Nalibotsky suggests considering a home equity loan -- then using the proceeds to pay for college. Factoring in the tax advantages, home equity loan rates may compare favorably with PLUS on private student loans.

Q: My folks say I'm on my own. What now?

A: You may have to consider a private loan. Don't worry -- you're in good company. Over the past decade, private borrowing for education has grown 10 times faster than borrowing from the government, and totaled about $16 billion last year.

Q: How should I choose a private loan, with all these conflicts of interest I've been reading about?

A. The recent controversies have raised questions about colleges' incentives to include certain lenders on preferred lists, but the experts agree they're still a good place to start.

Colleges generally put lenders on their list based on such factors as low rates, good service and clarity of their policies. It's good to use their expertise

Still, given the various student loan investigations, it's worth taking one more step: Ask a financial aid official the criteria for preferred lenders at your school (new federal measures in the works may make this information more transparent). If you see only one company listed, or are told the school has an arrangement with the lender that provides it indirect revenue, you may want to consider other lenders. Remember: You have the right to borrow from any lender you choose, not just those on the list.

That said, be careful, particularly if you venture off the list. Read the fine print. You might be offered a loan with a highly attractive introductory rate. But few students typically have the credit scores to be eligible for that rate, and it might balloon after a few years.

In considering any private loan, you'll probably be offered different kinds of incentives. Think carefully about which ones are most valuable to you.

Many private lenders will lower your rate for making, say, 44 consecutive on-time payments. Sounds great, but most students don't manage to do that, says Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of the Web site finaid.org. He advises choosing upfront discounts like reduced fees that you're sure to get.

You can compare loan offers on a number of Web sites, but Kantrowitz says the only way to find out exactly what terms you'll get is to apply. But don't apply to too many -- that could lower your credit rating.

Q. How much should I borrow?

A. As little as you can. "Live like a student when you're in school so you don't have to live like a student after you graduate," Nalibotsky says.

The average loan debt of $19,000 is manageable for most people, and median debt levels have leveled off in recent years after sharp rises in the 1990s, according to the College Board. But excessive debts can hamstring you for decades, limiting your cash flow and career options. A common rule of thumb is don't take on more debt than your expected first-year salary.

Where it gets tricky is deciding whether to borrow a bit more so you can work less and attend school full-time. There's not easy answer there, but keep in mind at large schools, it takes most students longer than four years to graduate.

For many students, a part-time job and full course load is manageable, but a full-time job may impede progress to graduation. You're better off borrowing enough to focus on your studies than flunking out or staying in school forever.