Student Loans by Course of Study
High Need and Business Fields Find Extra Funding
Enhance your search for the most comprehensive student loan deals: shop by course of study.
We’ve identified the general fields of study that typically feature customized student loans.
- Fields like nursing and medicine.
- Business and tech fields.
Popular Student Loans for High Need Fields
Public sector jobs in education, law, and healthcare, go perpetually unfilled. New blood is hard to come by—many new graduates seek out jobs in private sectors because they pay much better. Ironically the public sector where well-trained professionals are most necessary, is challenged to appeal to new grads. Traditionally these jobs pay poorly in contrast and may be located in very rural or urban districts and serve disadvantaged populations: all in all, very challenging work environments.
One solution: custom package student loans with loan forgiveness or waiver agreements. Give students monetary incentives to work in high need facilities following graduation. They are win-win situations.
Loans for Nursing Students Address Growing Shortage
Nursing students may be approved for auxiliary, low-interest loans, when they agree to work in a medically underserved hospital or clinic for a certain amount of time following their graduation. Experienced nurses are being encouraged to pursue their Masters or PhDs in Nursing Education or Nursing Management, with tuition waivers attached in some instances for those willing to teach new nursing recruits. For every year nurses work according to the terms of their loan forgiveness agreements, a year of loan payments are forgiven or waived. Plans may differ a bit, but the general idea remains unchanged: loan-for-service.
Loans for Student Teachers
Plenty of bad press has conjured a poor image of the public education landscape. It is bankrupt of committed and well-trained teachers. In extreme school systems—very urban or very rural—students are graduating unprepared for college or they are not graduating at all. Part of the solution lies in financial incentives focused on student teachers: agree to work in a disadvantaged public school system and your student teacher loans may be forgiven or waived, in whole or part.
Sounds like a good deal if you’re a student teacher.
Loans for Med Students
Federal loans like the Stafford Loan and PLUS Loans for Graduate and Professional students comprise your first and most affordable line of funding.
Doctors want jobs where they are challenged and the professional opportunities afford quick advancement and better money, just like everyone else. They have high debt when they graduate so money is an object. Customized student loans for med school students come from both public and private sources. Many states offer loan forgiveness programs if new docs are willing to begin their practice in medically underserved facilities.
Right now, check out your home state and the state in which you will attend medical school and see if any state-specific med school loans are right for you. We have taken all the guesswork out of this: we’ve already built an A-Z list of student loan programs by state, you just click and browse.
You still need money: private loans for med students
You bet private lenders have packaged up some private med school loans with pretty names that lead you to believe they are working on your behalf. Be careful: most of these financial products are high interest, high limit loans. First, wring every ounce of aid you can from federal, state, and med school sources. Then shop very carefully amid the sea of private loans; borrow only what you absolutely need and know you will be able to repay when you graduate.
Law School Student Loans
Lawyers are a high need profession in the public sector. Too few young law school grads choose this route. Can you blame them? They are facing astronomical loan repayment and a stressful first few years as the grunt labor in law practices everywhere. But some state governments entice new law grads with appealing state-based loan forgiveness programs. The deal? You agree to practice law in a public capacity for a certain length of time and a proportionate chunk of your law school loans may be forgiven or waived. For new grads it’s a great deal.
Of course you should always get as much as you can from the federal undergraduate and graduate loan programs, first.
When you have exhausted all other sources and you must have some more money, shop private student loan lenders carefully. Specially wrapped “law school” loans may really be nothing more than very high interest loans fitted with exorbitant limits and slapped with some slick marketing.
Loans for Students in Business and Tech Sectors
The business and tech fields are popular among non-traditional students, those beyond college age heading back to school. Outside of the financial obstacles, most professional adult students wrestle the equally imposing factors of family and job.
Loans for Business Students
Specialized business programs may spawn student loans specially designed for MBA and accounting students, both popular fields of study among business professionals. Regardless of the hard sell on such financial products as MBA Loans and CPA Loans, here are the steps you take to affordable and reasonable financial aid:
- Federal undergraduate and graduate loans first
- State-based aid
- Private loans as a last resort
Whether you are undergraduate or graduate level students Stafford Loans are a hands-down absolute. The beauty of them is that almost everyone qualifies for federal assistance with a Stafford Loan. And the interest rate is about the best you can get. In fact, by 2008 the interest rate will finally be settled at a low 3.4%.
While you’re shopping for federal loans, check in with your state government. You need to know that many states have negotiated even better deals on Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL) than those made directly through lenders. Guess what? We’ve already done the research on your state programs: the result is an A-Z list of state student loan programs. Simply click and browse.
Popular Student Loans for IT Professionals
The Information Technology field is driven by a constantly changing swarm of specifications and protocols, software, hardware, programming languages, and network methodologies. Skilled IT technicians frequently require new skills to keep current in their jobs and in their professions.
IT certification courses are an absolute and plenty of careers are fueled by the reputations of the companies behind them, such as those of Cisco and Microsoft. But certification courses and exams can be costly. You won’t find any federal or state loans that will help you fund that $3,000 networking boot camp course you need in order to get ahead.
So what then are your options for IT student loans? Let us guide you to your best sources for the right kind of financial aid.
