How to Obtain College Funding

Education costs are on the rise and so is the need for students to find a source for college funding. It is not uncommon for a student to spend more time worrying about how they will fund their education than they are studying. This leads to another problem, educational debt that will take years to get out from under. To make this picture more grim, many students must find a way to obtain the money needed without the help of a cosigner on their loans.
Today's students must find their college funding by seeking out several different avenues, rather than just one source.
Grants and scholarships should be the first place students look when seeking college funding. This source of funding is basically free money and although the money being given is often in small amounts, there are a large number of them available. Although the student probably cannot fund their whole education on grants and scholarships alone, they can be helpful in the overall scheme of things.
Next, the student should look to funding through the federal government. Loans, such as Perkins and Stafford, offer both unsubsidized and subsidized assistance. The Perkins loans offer low interest rates, however, not everyone qualifies because the student must have a need for financial help.
These options alone might sound like they will be enough. Unfortunately, they are only the tip of the iceberg of the amount of help a student will generally need. The remaining amount of money will need to be obtained through other means.
If the parents of the student and willing and able, the next step in funding is to seek a parent PLUS loan. This loan is federally funded and helps the student to fill in the gap between the previously mentioned funding sources and the actual cost of college attendance. This type of loan is not as strict as private loans, although the parents are required to have a good credit rating.
Unfortunately, not all parents are willing or able to help out their college student with funding. If this is the case, the student must look for private loans in which to fill in the gap. This is not always easy because private lenders can be quite strict on whom they give money too. The student must have a good credit rating and will often be required to find a cosigner willing to back the loan repayment. It may be possible to find a lender who is less strict about the cosigner requirement if the student shops around for loans.