Trade School Student Loans
How to Fast-Track Your Career
So you’re going off to learn a trade, but it’s no less expensive than some of the college programs you’ve seen. You cannot qualify for federal loans and many of the private alternative loans you’ve checked out don’t include your needs either.
Do you have any options open to you when it comes to finding affordable money to learn your trade?
Trade schools give you a fast track to an immediate career. Once upon a time “trade school” meant automotive repair or welding, but today there is a whole new world of “trades” available to students uninterested in the liberal arts scene.
Types of Trade Schools
You may be interested in computer networking or programming, cosmetology or culinary school, or learning the ropes of a paralegal. Or maybe you are simply interested in a good old-fashioned trade program in automotive repair or construction and contracting. Here's a list of many common areas of study at a trade school:
- Culinary Arts
- Real Estate
- Auto Body and Mechanics
- Aviation Mechanics
- Carpentry
- Commercial & Industrial Maintenance
- Construction & Building
- Diesel Mechanic
- Electrician Trade
- Flight/Aviation
- Gardening/Landscape Design
- Gunsmith
- HVAC Training
- Locksmith
- Marine & Watercraft
- Mechanical Drafting
- Plumbing
- Motorcycle Repair
- Truck Driving
- Welding
Best of all: trade school programs appeal to students of all ages. Even more reason to find financial tools that work.
Limits to Federal and Alternative Loan Programs
The Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP), including the Stafford Loans and PLUS Loans, is not designed for students in non-traditional higher education programs, which very much limits the program’s use. Typically applicants must be engaged in a degree program at a college or university on either a full-time or part-time basis.
Even standard private loans fail trade school students:
Rare is the commercial student loan provider that does not offer a private student loan. These products are financial solutions when federal loans fall short of covering education costs. Just like federal loans, though, many require more than half-time attendance in a degree program to be of any use to borrowers.
As if in answer to the growing number of students engaged in educational alternatives like trade school a few lenders have created another class of private loan that finally solves the financial issues for trade school students.
Optional Loans for Trade School
A small number of lenders have created a new brand of private student loan that fills a vacuum for trade school students. Trade and technical school loans feature high loan limits and flexible repayment plans, many of the same features of more traditional private loans.
The Career Training Loan from Sallie Mae is one of the most practical and necessary products for students pursuing a trade program. The loan allows applicants to apply with a co-borrower if necessary, borrow up to the full cost for the program along with all related expenses and still benefit from flexible repayment terms and interest rates. The opportunity to cover “related expenses” is especially convenient for trade programs that may require you buy specialized tools and materials for your work.
What You Need to Know About Applying for Private Loans
It’s great to think that you have convenient options for accessing the student loans you need to finance college, but private loans are very different from federal in one big way: your credit history counts. If you are trying to borrow private trade school loans with poor credit, there’s only one way to do it:
**If you have poor credit or no credit and you need to borrow one of these private loans to pay for your trade school program, apply with a co-signor, someone you know that has good credit and is willing to help you.
