Student Loans For Single Mothers: Guide to Choosing the Best Types of Loans

Finding the money to go back to school doesn’t have to be a difficult process for single mothers.

Chances are high that you are eligible for more loans and assistance than you are aware of. All it takes to begin the process is to have the right information, and we’ve compiled it here for you.

With the following information, you’ll be well on your way to a higher education and quite possibly a whole new quality of life.

Types of Loans Available For Single Mothers

Single mothers have a variety of choices when it comes to loans for college. There are two types of federal student loans specifically that are great for single moms.

• Stafford Loan- These loans are available for both undergraduate and graduate students to supplement grants, work-study programs, scholarships, and personal resources. Acceptance of these loans is not based on your credit, so you are eligible even if you do have poor credit. While you are in college, you do not have to pay back any of the loan, and you can borrow as much as $20, 500 each year, depending on your degree. These loans come in two forms.

• Subsidized - This means the interest accrued during the time you are in school is paid by the government instead of the student.

• Unsubsidized - This type of Stafford loan accrues interest that must be paid by the student. This interest rate is generally low, though, making the loan easier to pay back. According to www.staffordloan.com, undergraduate loans for the 2011-2012 school year can be obtained with interest as low as 3.4 percent. Graduate loans have a fixed rate of 6.8 percent until 2013.

• Perkins Loan - Perkins loans are campus-based programs, meaning you receive this financial aid directly from your college. The college you are attending must be participating in the campus-based program though. The amount of financial aid you receive depends on your financial need, but typically you may borrow up to $5,500 a year for undergraduate programs and $8,000 a year for graduate programs. No payments need to be made while you are attending school, and you are also offered a grace period of nine months once you graduate from college. During this nine months, no interest is accrued and no payments need to be made on the loan.

Private student loans, not offered by the federal government are also available for single mothers.

Here are just a couple of private loans you might be interested in:

• Chase Select Private Student Loans - These types of loans are based on credit and are generally used to supplement grants and other loans. An option to defer payment until you have completed your education is available.

• Sallie Mae Private Student Loans – With this private student loan for single mothers, you can borrow up to 100% of the cost of your education. You also have the option of making small monthly payment on interest while you are in school so you don’t have to pay as much when you are finished with your education.

Tips For Choosing The Best Student Loans for Single Mothers

When choosing what types of loans you should obtain for your college education, there are several factors to look for.

• Choose loans with low interest rates. This will save you a lot of money when you complete your schooling.

• Only supplement with loans if you are able. Try to obtain as much of your college tuition money from grants that you don’t have to pay back.

• Find a loan you don’t have to pay on while in school. You will have enough to worry about without adding on the extra stress of monthly loan payments.

• Make sure you will not be penalized for making pre-payments or additional payments on your loans. While you may want to pay off your loan as quickly as possible, this could cost you more in the long run if you are penalized.

How To Apply For Student Loans for Single Mothers

Applying for federal and private student loans is not as difficult as you might think.

For federal loans, you must complete a Fafsa application. This application can be found at www.fafsa.ed.gov. Much of the information needed for this application involves your financial information, such as your current income and previous taxes, and your personal information, such as your name, age, address, and social security number. You will also need to know which school you will be attending.

Private loans, such as those from Chase and Sallie Mae, require their own application. Sallie Mae’s loan application is located at www.salliemae.com, and requires information like the social security number of both you and your co-signer, the amount of money you wish to request a loan for, employment information, financial information, and contact information for two references the company can contact. The Chase loan application, found at www.chasestudentloans.com, requires the same type of information.

Before you begin any of these applications, make sure you have all of the information you will need in hand. This will make the application process much easier.

Consolidating Student Loans For Single Mothers

After you complete your education, you may find that making payments on all of your student loans is a little difficult. Consolidating your loans is sometimes a great option in this circumstance. Consolidating allows you to combines multiple small federal loans into one big loan, so you only have to make one payment each month instead of three or four.

The U.S. Department of Education offers two types of consolidation for federal loans.

• Traditional Direct Consolidation Loans - A traditional consolidation loan allows you to extend your repayments for up to 30 years and combine all of your loans together. Interest for these loans almost doubles what you would normally pay though and you may lose some of the benefits you received from individual loans, like cancellation benefits, principal rebates, and discounts on interest rates. It is important to fully understand the impact a consolidation will have before you make this decision.

• Special Direct Consolidation Loans – This type of consolidation loan allows borrows to combine their federal loans together, but offers an interest rate reduction to encourage borrowers to pay back their student loans. This consolidation, however, is only available to single mothers and students from January 2012 to June 30, 2012. Perkins loans and private student loans are not eligible for this type of consolidation.

Deferment and Forbearance of Student Loans for Single mothers

If you are having a difficult time paying back your loans, but don’t want to consolidate, there are a couple of other options you may be interested in.

• Deferment – Deferment allows you to temporarily suspend the payments on your student loans as a result of unemployment, national service, economic hardship, internships, military deployment, or school attendance. Deferment is available for both federal and private student loans, but is limited by a specified time frame. Interest does not accrue if a loan is subsidized, but it will add up if you have an unsubsidized loan.

• Forbearance - With forbearance, you can suspend or reduce the payments on your student loans for up to a year. During this time, interest will still accrue, and you will receive statements each quarter letting you know how much your unpaid interest is. You will have the option of paying this interest during the forbearance, though, to help control your overall loan amount.

To apply for deferment or forbearance, contact your loan provider or school’s financial office directly to see if you qualify.

With these tips, you will easily be able to find the student loans for single mothers you need to obtain your education. Start the application process today for a better and brighter tomorrow.

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