Great Lake School Loan

Great Lake School Loan

Great Lake School Loans are referred to education loans provided by Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation and Affiliates, or just Great Lakes in short, and its associates. The education loans offered by Great Lakes include Federal Loans as well as private loans. Great Lakes is one of the biggest providers of assistance to the students by way of financial, operational and educational support. It operates with thousands of schools and lenders as guarantor and servicer of education loans to provide highest quality service to the students.

Great Lakes and its associates provide all popular Federal education loans such as Stafford Loans, PLUS Loans for parents, graduate / professional PLUS loans for students, Perkins loans and consolidation loans. Private or alternate loans are provided by private lenders associated with Great Lakes. Private loans are costlier than Federal loans because of higher interest rates, though processing time is generally much less. The students interested in borrowing private loans should first try to meet the financial requirement for education by Federal loans. These loans have lower interest rates and for many of these loans credit rating may not be an issue. Private loan should be taken as further financial assistance only if all the Federal loans the student is eligible for are not sufficient to pay for the course.

The procedure for applying for Federal loan is similar everywhere. The first step is always to fill up FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). Application forms are easily available thru the school or on-line. The information provided in FAFSA is used to determine student’s eligibility for various types of loans. The student generally gets communication about eligibility from the school’s financial aid office. After getting this information the student can apply for the amounts to be borrowed in different loan programs and decide the lender. Processing of loan takes a few weeks. Loan is disbursed only after the student completes and submits MPN or Master Promissory Note in which the students agrees with the terms of the loan and declares the intention to repay the loan. It may be possible to get multiple loans on same MPN. The loan amount is sent to the school, not directly to the applicant. Out of this loan amount the school deducts any outstanding dues from the student and hands over the balance amount to the student. This amount can be used by the student to cover educational expenses.

Stafford Loans are most affordable with current interest rate of only 6.8% at the time of writing. Repayment becomes due after the end of grace period of six months following the completion of the course, or when the student stops attending school at least half-time. The interest starts accruing as soon as the loan is disbursed. In case of unsubsidized loan the interest accrual till the time the payment becomes due is capitalized and added to the original loan amount. In special cases the student can be given subsidized loan in which the interest accrual before repayment starts is paid by the Department of Education. The borrower can approach the lender to find out whether the lender has any schemes for benefit of the borrowers.

Perkins Loans have even lower interest rate. Currently it is just 5%. The interest is exempted while the student is enrolled in school at least half time. After graduation the grace period is as much as 9 months.

Consolidation loan also forms part of Great Lake school loan. There are rules for consolidating Federal education loans that are specified on the web site of Great Lake. Private loans can be consolidated separately, not with Federal loans. For complete information visit the web site of Great Lakes:

www.mygreatlakes.org/