After your kid decides to go to college, you will have a lot of things to think about as a parent, starting with the fact that you will need to find a way to pay for it. You are undeniably happy that your child has grown up into a person that is interested in getting an education, but your happiness won’t make the education any less expensive. And, yet, you don’t want to be the one that will destroy your kid’s dreams, which is why you’ll find a way to pay any amount necessary.
Speaking of amounts, here’s a study that investigates why tuition is so expensive: https://www.forbes.com/sites/prestoncooper2/2020/08/31/a-new-study-investigates-why-college-tuition-is-so-expensive/?sh=5aa0f4e17a05
Anyway, as I was saying, you are undeniably ready to pay any amount necessary, but here is the thing. You probably don’t have such an amount saved up, which leads us to a simple conclusion. To be as straightforward as possible, you will have to take out a parent college loan. That is, of course, unless you are planning on squeezing the money out of a rich person you know or something like that.
I don’t want you to get me wrong here. I am most certainly not advising you to start squeezing the money out of those people, as I don’t think that is a very good solution. You can probably guess why. Nobody will be willing and happy to give their money away just so, without any guarantee that it will be paid back, and borrowing from someone you know can lead to your relationship with that person being worsened, which is probably not what you want.
So, the only option you have left is that loan that I have mentioned. When you start the process of getting it, though, the first thing you’ll need to do is find the right lender for you. There are certainly a lot of those private lenders out there, and you should make it your task to research them before getting into any agreements because you want to make sure that you’re choosing wisely. Well, I’ll give you a few research tips.
First, Check The Federal Solution
Before you even resort to those private options, you might want to consider the federal direct college parent loans. Those can sometimes be a much better solution and I am sure that you would love to get them, especially since the interest rates could be lower than you might have expected. What’s more, the rest of the terms could be much more favorable too, which is why you should always take this option into account before making any ultimate decisions.
Get Some Recommendations
If, however, you find that private lenders are a better option for you, then you should start searching for them by getting some recommendations from the people you know. Somebody in your circle of acquaintances must have done this already, and you should definitely talk to them and get their input on the topic. Most importantly, you should let those people tell you about their experiences with specific lenders and give you some suggestions on the ones you might want to work with.
Check Their Reputation
Getting those recommendations is a necessary step, but you shouldn’t think of it as the only step in your research. After all, your task is to find a lender that’s best for you and while your acquaintances could give you some amazing recommendations, you will still want to check those leaders they’ve recommended in more detail so that you can form your own opinion about them. Well, start by checking their reputation.
It should go without saying that you absolutely do not want to work with an ill-reputed lender, as that is bound to lead to your disappointment. If you aren’t quite sure how to check reputation, let me tell you what you should perhaps do. First, try to talk to a few previous clients. And, then, try to find some online reviews that those clients have perhaps written so that you can find out if they were happy with the services, and the loan, they received from specific lenders.
If you’re more interested in the direct federal PLUS loans I’ve mentioned above, you should get familiar with their disadvantages too: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/121015/dangers-taking-out-parent-plus-loan.asp
Check & Compare The Actual Terms
When you find some rather reputable, trusted, and experienced lenders and you begin thinking that working with them could be a perfect choice, you’ll have to do one more thing before actually making the ultimate decision and starting the process. Basically, you should check and compare the actual terms of the loans that they are offering, so that you can get a clear idea of who can offer you the best and the most favorable solutions. Once you do that, you will undeniably be ready to make this choice and borrow the necessary money.
