How to Get a Student Loan Without a Cosigner

Have you ever wondered if it's possible to get a student loan without a cosigner? Well, you're not alone. Many students face this challenge when looking for ways to fund their education. Hey everyone, welcome back to the channel. And in this video, I'm gonna be walking you through how you can get a student loan without a cosigner and we'll discuss some top lenders like CollegeApp and Sallie Mae, see if they offer options for students who don't have a cosigner. And if at any point you decide to try either CollegeApp or Sallie Mae, you can use the affiliate links that I left down in the description. It won't cost you anything and you might even get a bit of a discount, which you wouldn't get if you went directly to their websites. So without further ado, let's get right into it. So what exactly is a student loan without a cosigner? Essentially, it's a loan that you can qualify for on your own without needing someone else, like a parent or guardian to sign the loan for you. This can be a bit tricky because most private lenders do require a cosigner due to the limited credit history and income of most students. But the good news is that federal student loans do not require a cosigner. These loans are funded by the government and are based on financial need rather than credit history. They include direct subsidized loans and direct unsubsidized loans, which means that most students are eligible. When it comes to private student loans, things get a bit more complicated. Many private lenders require a cosigner, but there are some options out there for students without one. Lenders like CollegeApp and Sallie Mae have specific criteria for approving loans without a cosigner. Let's start with CollegeApp. Generally, getting approved without a cosigner can be a bit difficult, like I mentioned, if you don't have a strong credit history or steady income. CollegeApp typically requires a credit-worthy cosigner for most of their student loans, but they do have options for students who can demonstrate credit worthiness on their own. To qualify for a loan without a cosigner at CollegeApp, you'll need to have good credit score with sufficient income. They also offer a pre-qualification tool that lets you check if you might qualify without affecting your credit score. Now, you generally can't go wrong with CollegeApp, which is an online student loan portal that arranges student loans and provides financial services for students using a few different banks, meaning they arrange lending for you, but don't actually do the lending themselves. They're basically a middleman. And the reason why I like that is because there really is an easy pre-qualification process right on their website that doesn't use a hard credit check that would really affect your credit score badly if you don't get accepted. So you don't have to worry about it affecting your credit score. Then once you get pre-qualified, all the deals that you're approved for and that you can get will show up right there on the website and only then, after you see your options, do you have to go through the formal application, which will affect your credit score. So if you type in all the information correct, you can see all your options really fast and without it negatively affecting your credit score, which not all services offer. Okay, so when it comes to their website, CollegeApp is really easy to use and is really packed with a bunch of helpful information about scholarships and loan financing. They offer loans starting as low as $1,000 going all the way up to full tuition. They also have refinancing options if you already have student loan debt, which could help you pay less on that debt or even pay it off a lot faster. Now, CollegeApp is a private lender, which means that they can offer both fixed and variable rate loans. And if you don't know the difference, a fixed rate gives you predictable and unchanging monthly payments. And at College Avenue, these start at 3.89%, but a variable rate, on the other hand, changes based on market conditions. And at College Ave, they start at 5.59%. So in terms of qualifying for a loan from CollegeApp, you have to be at least 16 years old, have a social security number, and be enrolled in an eligible school. For undergrads and international students, you also need to have a cosigner, and it doesn't take more than three or four minutes to check if you qualify and at what rates you could possibly get. Then you'll be given a choice of loans for undergrad, graduate, career, parent, or refinancing your existing student loan. Then you choose your loan term and your APR or interest rate. Once your loan is approved by CollegeApp, they then check in with your school to confirm that you're enrolled or that you've been accepted and that the loan that you're asking for doesn't actually cost more than their cost of attendance and if you meet the school's academic progress guidelines. And lastly, if it all checks out, CollegeApp will send the money directly to the school. Now, the benefit of being financed through CollegeApp is that along with having pretty flexible terms, they offer a number of ways you can save on how much you pay on the lifetime total of the loan, starting off with making minimum payments while you're still studying. If you're able to make minimum payments while you study, it shows them that you take your responsibility of paying back your loan really seriously and they reward you by lowering your interest terms slightly. Also, you have the option of paying the interest charges each month while you're still in school or you can pay a flat rate of $25 per month. On the other hand, you can go for a deferred payment where you don't make any payments until after you finish school and after the deferred payment ends after six months. But you'll end up paying more interest over the lifespan of the loan. So I mentioned the fixed and variable rates and the reason I recommend CollegeApp is that they're all about students and getting you the best deal possible. They also have lower than average starting rates compared to other lenders in the industry, but their maximum rates are also much higher than averages for student loans, going up all the way to just shy of 18% on both variable and fixed interest rates for undergrads. But their loans are structured to help you pay off your student debt as fast as possible. So they encourage you to start paying while you're still studying and those low starting rates are also there to help you get out of debt faster. And at this point, I just wanna reiterate that if you decide that you wanna try out CollegeApp, check out the affiliate link that I left down in the description. It won't cost you anything and you'll probably even get a bit of a discount which you wouldn't get if you went directly to their website if you're approved. Now, Sallie Mae is another player in the student loan market. They also offer loans without a cosigner, but like CollegeApp, it's more challenging to qualify without one. Sallie Mae considers factors such as your credit history, income, and school enrollment status. For students who can demonstrate strong credit and financial stability, Sallie Mae does provide no cosigner loans. Additionally, they have various repayment options and tools that help you manage your loan effectively. So the next company has a name that's very familiar to a lot of Americans, which is Sallie Mae. They're a private student loan lender that started out as a federal student lender in the 70s. Nowadays, they offer both undergraduate and graduate loans, as well as loans for trade schools, but they also fund part-time and international students. Now, compared to CollegeApp, Sallie Mae has fewer options when it comes to repayment and even fewer choices for loan terms. And although they don't charge you any loan application fees, they don't have a pre-qualification process like CollegeApp does. So when you fill out their online application, it'll actually reflect on your credit history. So my advice is that you do your best to check and see if you qualify before you go through the process, because you don't want it to negatively affect your credit score. Right, so to apply, you'll need to give them some basic personal information and details about your school and the semesters that you plan to get funded for. And you also need to know what your school's total cost of attendance is, which means all related expenses, including tuition, but also stuff like meals, equipment, and books, which is information you can get from the school's website. Just like CollegeApp and a lot of other lenders, your loan can't be more than whatever your school has calculated as the cost of attendance. Now, if you have a scholarship or a cosigner, you'll need to supply that information as well. However, you don't necessarily need to have a cosigner, but most students who don't have a cosigner will need the credit history needed to get a loan. But in any case, even if you can get approved without one, having a cosigner can get you lower interest rates. So it's worth checking out if a parent or some other adult with a good credit history would be willing to cosign for you. Okay, so once you've filled in all these details, Sallie Mae will give you a document called a loan application solicitation disclosure, with a pretty detailed breakdown of the rates, terms, and repayment plans that apply to you. If it works for you and you decide to go ahead, then Sallie Mae works directly with your school to disperse the funds. When it comes to loan terms, Sallie Mae has fewer options than College App. They offer either 10 or 15 years for undergrad and career training loans, 15 years for MBA, law, and graduate school loans, and 20 years for medical or dental school loans. Their minimum loan amount is $1,000, and the maximum is 100% of your school-certified expenses. They also have a standard late payment fee of $25. For repayment plans, you have three choices, pay interest or a set amount of $25 per month while you're still in school and during the six-month grace period, after you finish or start paying after you finish studying and the grace period is up. That being said, the most important thing is the rate, and Sallie Mae offers a bunch of different rates because I mentioned undergraduate rates for College App. Let's see how Sallie Mae compares in that respect. For fixed undergrad rates, Sallie Mae starts at 3.99%, which is a bit higher than College App, but it goes all the way up to 15.49%, which is quite a bit lower than College App's highest rate of just shy of 18%. When it comes to variable rates, Sallie Mae starts at 5.37% and their maximum rate is 15.7%, which is also quite a bit lower than College App. So at the end of the day, it all depends on how you plan to pay off your student loan and what your personal needs are. In my opinion, if you want more loan options, I would definitely recommend Sallie Mae, but if you want more repayment options and more choices for loan terms, you should probably go with College Avenue. And both are solid, reliable options that offer some of the best rates in the business. Okay, so that's all for this review. If you found this video helpful or interesting, give it a thumbs up and subscribe to see more videos like this. As I mentioned earlier, if you do decide that you wanna give either of these lenders a try, check out the links that are down in the description. They don't cost you anything and you'll get a bit of a discount, which you wouldn't get if you went directly to their website if you get approved. As always, I enjoy hearing your thoughts and I'll try to get back to any questions or comments you leave down below as fast as I can. And finally, guys, thank you so much for watching. See you in the next video.