A university student loan or a bad credit private student loan?

Or maybe no college student loans at all.

You need your very own personal student loan consultant.

Someone who can match your needs with the right information.

Have you already tried looking for useful student loan information? If you have, then you know it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. What no one tells you is that all student loans can be good, bad or ugly depending on what your individual situation is.

What may be right for a parent with one college-age child, or a good credit rating or expectations of rising earnings-

is probably not right for someone with younger children, or a mediocre credit rating or expectations of fixed earnings.

Studies have shown that students feel the pinch when they borrow more than 7% of their post-college income. Yet some authorities recommend students borrow 10-15% and suggest that parents can afford a debt ratio of 37%!

Your Best Interests Are...

NOT represented by advice from:

• financial institutions who want to get their biggest share of this $85 billion per year industry
• colleges who only want students with funds to pay (particularly with their endowments getting hit)
• the government who puts out unreadable, bureaucratic nonsense that even their people don’t understand
• high school guidance counselors who do not know any better, because they rely on information
  from the sources above

Student Loan Information or Misinformation?

As a professional research specialist, I am shocked by the amount of misinformation and lack of common sense that even respected organizations show.

As a parent who has been through this process twice, (with four more to go) I know that the best financial aid information is the sort that leaves you with the least college loan debt.

Loans do have some positive aspects.

A student loan can help you achieve a high credit rating.

It can also be used to repair your credit while saving you money.

If you take a smart, consumer-oriented approach to every phase of your college loan, you can transform it from the monkey on your back to a cash cow.

It all starts with your FAFSA application. With the price of college going up every year, few families can afford to ignore this intrusive form. It is your key to never-repay federal grants, your basic state grant (in whichever state you reside) institutional grants and scholarships, and of course federal college loans.

Everything from FAFSA to consolidating student loans (and finding student loans- without cosigner) has right and wrong choices depending on your individual situation. Learn which decisions are right for your family from an independent source who knows how to dig beyond pretty financial aid brochures. Its more important than ever to know what to expect, so that if you need to get a college loan- you can make it work for you!