Intro
Have you ever wondered if it’s possible to get a student loan as an international student? Well, you’re not alone. Many international students face this challenge when looking for ways to fund their education in the US. We’ll discuss some top lenders like College Ave and Sallie Mae to see if they offer options for international students.
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Loans for International Students?
What exactly is a student loan for international students? Essentially, it’s a loan that international students can use to fund their education in the United States. These loans often require a US co-signer as most international students do not have a credit history in the US. However, some lenders may offer loans without a co-signer if the student can demonstrate sufficient creditworthiness and income. When it comes to federal student loans, unfortunately, they’re not available to international students. These loans are funded by the US government and are only available to US citizens and eligible non-citizens.
In terms of private student loans, international students do have some options they can choose from, but they often require a co-signer. Lenders like College Ave and Sallie Mae have specific criteria for approving loans for international students.
About College Ave
Getting approved as an international student can be very difficult if you don’t have a US co-signer with a strong credit history or steady income. College Ave typically requires a creditworthy co-signer for most of their loans, but they do have options for students who can demonstrate creditworthiness on their own. To qualify for a loan without a co-signer at College Ave, you’re going to need to have a good credit score and
College Ave-Features
sufficient income. They also offer a pre-qualification tool that lets you check if you might qualify without it affecting your credit score. You really can’t go wrong with College Ave, an online student loan portal that arranges loans and provides financial services for students using a few different banks. Meaning they arrange lending for you, but they don’t actually do the lending themselves. The reason why I like them is that there is a really easy pre-qualification process right on their website that doesn’t use a hard credit check that would reflect badly on your credit history. You don’t have to worry about it affecting your credit score.
Once you get pre-qualified, all of the deals that you are approved for and the ones that you can get will show up right there on the website. Only after you see your options will you go through the formal application, which will affect your credit score. If you do type in all of the info right, you can see all of your options really fast and without it negatively affecting your credit, which not all services can say. When it comes to their website, College Ave is very easy to use and it’s packed with a bunch of helpful information about scholarships
and loan financing. They do offer loans starting as low as $1,000 all the way up to the full tuition. They also have refinancing options if you already have student loan debt, which could help you pay less on that debt or even pay it off faster. College Ave is a private lender, which
College Ave-Rates
means they can offer both fixed and variable rate loans. If you don’t know the difference, a fixed rate gives you predictable and unchanging monthly payments. At College Ave, these start at about 3.89%. But a variable rate changes based on market conditions. At College Ave, they start at 5.59%.
College Ave-How It Works
In terms of qualifying for a loan from College Ave you must be at least 16 years old, have a social security number, and be enrolled in an eligible school for undergrads and international students. You also need to have a co-signer and doesn’t take more than 3 or 4 minutes to check if you qualify and what rates you could get. You’re going to be given a choice of loans for undergraduate, graduate, career, parent or refinancing, your existing student loan. You choose your loan term and your APR or your interest rate.
Once your loan is approved by College Ave, they then check in with your school to confirm that you’re enrolled or that you’ve been accepted. That loan that you’re asking for doesn’t actually cost more than the cost of attendance and if you meet the school’s academic progress guidelines. Lastly, if it all checks out, College Ave will send the money directly to your school. The benefit of being financed through College Ave is that along with having pretty flexible terms, they offer
College Ave-Repayment
a number of ways you can save on how much you pay on the lifetime total of the loan. Starting off with making minimum payments while you were still studying. If you are able to make minimum payments while you study, it shows that you take your responsibility of paying back your loan very seriously and they do reward you by lowering your interest terms slightly. Also, you have the option of paying the interest charges each month while you are still in school, or you can pay a flat rate of 25 bucks a month.
On the other hand, you can go for a deferred payment where you don’t make any payments until after you finish school, but you’re going to end up paying more interest over the life of your loan. I mentioned the fixed and variable rates, and the reason that I recommend College Ave is that they’re all
College Ave-Benefit
about the students and getting you the best deal possible. They also have lower than average starting rates compared to other lenders in the industry, but their maximum rates are also much higher than averages for student loans, going up to about 17.99% on both variable and fixed interest rates for undergraduates. But their loans are structured to help you pay off your student debt as fast as possible. They do encourage you to start paying while you’re still studying. Those low starting rates are also there to help you get out of debt faster.
Sallie Mae is another player in the student loan
About Sallie Mae
market. They also offer loans without a co-signer, but like College Ave, it’s more challenging to qualify without one. Sallie Mae considers factors such as your credit history, income, and school enrollment status. For students who can demonstrate strong credit and financial stability, Sallie Mae does provide no co-signer loans. Additionally, they have various repayment options and tools to help you manage your loan effectively.
The next company has a name that’s very familiar to a lot of Americans, which is Sallie Mae. They are a private student loan provider that started out as a federal student loan lender in the 1970s. Nowadays, they offer both undergrad and graduate loans as well as loans for trade schools, and they also fund part-time and international students. Compared to College Ave, Sallie Mae has fewer options when it comes to repayment and even fewer choices
Sallie Mae-Things to Consider
for loan terms. Although they don’t charge you any loan application fee, they don’t have a pre-qualification process like College Ave does. When you do fill out their online application, it will actually reflect on your credit history. My advice is that you do your best to check and see if you qualify before you go through the process because it will affect your credit score negatively. All
Sallie Mae-How It Works
right. To apply, you’re going to need to give them some basic personal information and details about your school and the semester you plan to get funded. You also need to know what your school’s total cost of attendance is, which means all related expenses, including tuition, but also things like meals, equipment, and books, which is information you can get from the school website. Just like College Ave and a lot of other lenders, your loan can’t be more than whatever your school has calculated as the cost of attendance.
If you have a scholarship or a co-signer, you’re going to need to supply that information as well. However, you don’t necessarily need to have a co-signer, but most students who don’t have a co-signer will need the credit history needed to get a loan. But in any case, even if you do get approved without one, having a co-signer can get you lower interest rates. It’s always worth checking if a parent or another adult with a good credit history would be willing to co-sign for you.
Once you have filled in all of these details, Sallie Mae will give you a document called a loan application solicitation disclosure with a pretty detailed breakdown of the rates, terms, and
Sallie Mae-Repayment
repayment plans that apply to you. If it works for you and you decide to go ahead, then Sallie Mae works directly with your school to disperse the funds. When it comes to loan terms, Sallie Mae has fewer options than what College Ave has. They offer either 10 or 15 years for undergrad and career training loans, 15 years for MBA, law, and graduate school loans, and 20 years for medical or dental school loans. Their minimum loan amount is $1,000, and the maximum is 100% of your school certified expenses. They also have a standard late payment fee of 25 bucks.
For repayment plans, you have three choices. You can pay interest or a set amount of $25 a month while you are still in school and during the six-month grace period after you finish or start paying after you finish studying and the grace period is up.
Sallie Mae-Rates
The most important thing is the rate. Sallie Mae offers a bunch of different rates because I mentioned undergraduate rates for College Ave, let’s see how Sallie Mae compares in that respect. For fixed undergrad rates, Sallie Mae starts at 3.99% and that’s a bit higher than College Ave and it goes all the way up to 15.49% which is quite a bit lower than College Ave’s highest rate of almost 18%. When it comes to variable rates, Sallie Mae starts at 5.37% and their maximum rate is 15.70% which is also quite lower than College Ave. At the end of the day, it all
Bottom Line
really depends on how you plan to pay off your student loan and what your personal needs are. In my opinion, if you want more loan options, I would definitely recommend Sallie Mae. But if you want more repayment options and more choices for loan terms, then you should go with College Ave. Both are solid, reliable options that offer some of the best rates in the business.