Student Loans are the Most Manageable Option to Pay for College

For every student heading to college, there are several factors to face. A new chapter of their lives is set to begin, while the first taste of true independence is in the offing. However, the realities of paying bills and organizing personal finances are also set to be handled for the first time. Between paying fees on time and everything else, a student loan is the ideal solution.There are a host of challenges that students face during their college lives, and wrangling with financial pressures is a major one. Unsurprisingly, there are several options to avail of, but loans to students tend to offer much more, and are certainly accessible by anyone.Some of the differences between the range of student financing options are small, but while scholarships, for example, are exclusive in nature, loans are more open. They can be applied for by anyone and the sum can cover any particular aspects of tuition or living expenses.Deferred RepaymentsThe most attractive part of a student loan is the fact it does not have to be repaid until the borrower has graduated. The reason for this is simply the realization that students are rarely flush with income, and therefore cannot be expected to make monthly repayments.In offering loans for students, lenders are willing to wait and trust in the ability of the student to earn in the future. This policy benefits both parties since the student only faces his or her debt once they begin earning, and the lender enjoys a positive image by showing compassion, instead of insisting on making profits.Of course, this kind of student financing does not cost the lenders much at all. The interest rate remains intact, and once graduation has past the full debt will become subject to repayments.The AlternativesThe alternatives to a student loan include scholarships, college financial aid and fee payments through installments. And while all three are availed of by individual students, they each have some issues that work against them.When it comes to scholarships, the problem is fairly clear. Unlike loans for students, this payment option is completely out of the hands of the student, and is exclusive to whomever the particular college decides to offer the scholarship to.In fact, this option is open to those who excel at sports or at academics, but are typically limited to a small number of students.As a form of student financing, a very popular option is financial aid, but this too is available to only a limited number of students. While scholarships may mean fees are paid in full by the college, financial aid means that students can find some emergency funding to alleviate financial woes.The financial aid office offers student loans only to those that are in real need of help, thereby qualifying their activities as something of a rescue operation. For this reason, not everyone can avail of their services. The reason for this is that the fund made available is seriously limited, so the sum of loans to students in trouble are limited, and is quite low too.The final alternative is payment of fees directly to the college in installments. This seems like a good, well structured student financing option, but there are two draw backs. Firstly, to make this work the student has to earn a salary of some kind, and of several thousand dollars per month.Secondly, such an arrangement only relates to college fees, meaning living expenses are not addressed. With such pressure to meet each fee installment, food expenses, and heating and electricity bills may go unpaid.A student loan, however, can cover everything and with no pressure of payment until after graduation.