American General Student Loans: Learn How to Obtain Yours

Dec 28, 2008 in Getting a Student Loan

American Student Loans - The Six Essential Steps to Getting Yours

With Federal American Student Loans it’s essential you learn and understand the process of what’s involved in applying. This helps so you can start preparing and gathering the necessary information to get organized and apply for your loan as soon as possible.
The basic steps to go through are as follows:

1. Applying for Financial Aid

First you need to complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The (FAFSA) is your first step for most student financial aid programs. You can find the website here: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov

2. Calculating (EFC) Expected Family Contribution

After you complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form and submitting it to the government they will then estimate how much money your family can actually afford to spend on your college costs. This is know as the Expected Family Contribution, or (EFC) - The lower your EPC, the more financial aid you will receive.

3. Receiving your Student Aid Report (SAR)

The Student Aid Report gets sent to you from the Government. This will summarize all the information you provided and will indicate your EFC.

4. Receiving your Award Letters

You will receive and Award Letter from the schools where you’ve applied for financial aid and have been accepted. This letter will indicate how much support each school is offering. When evaluating the offers, consider both the Aid Package and what the college actually costs.

5. Completing your loan application

While the FAFSA begins sending out the financial aid your Award letter may include a Stafford Loan, if so then fill it out and submit it. You may also need a Supplementary Student Loan to cover additional costs such as tuition and fees, housing, meals, books, personal expenses, and transportation. You need to shop around and find the best one - interests rates and terms will not be as favorable as the Federal Loan.

6. Receiving your loan amount

You’ve now done all the hard work and applied for a loan, it’s now been approved and you’ve signed the promissory note. The Funds will not be distributed until you enroll. Remember your school will receive the funds (they won’t go directly to you). They might all not come at once but in installments.

These are the basic steps of getting your federal American student loan.

Don’t forget that in additions to the federally funded loan programs, you may also be eligible for many different private American student loan options also.

To find out where to apply for private American student loans, visit http://www.american-studentloan.com

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