When to apply for Private Student Loan?

[MarineVietVet]

I believe the question by the OP has been answered.

[Pat94108]

Not sure why some felt the need to give the OP opinions about what he should or should not do, at the end of the day he didn't share what his situation was or how much money he was going to borrow etc. Private loans don't have the best repayment terms, but many have managed to repay them. 

Personally, OP, I only had one private loan when I was a student, but it was a small one and I remember applying for it through my school after the semester had already begun. I got the money pretty fast, within a week or so, but it was many years ago and, again, the loan wasn't large (as a matter of fact I paid it off before I even graduated while working a side job).  

I hope that can help even a little bit. 

EDIT: I'd recommend maybe inquiring and applying a month or so before to be on the safe side, but it will also depends what you're using the money for. Books, tuition etc? That could also determine when to apply for it. In my case, the money wasn't spend on tuition, but other school related expenses so I didn't need the money at the beginning of the semester. 

[Anonymous]

Some university financial aid offices provide suggested lender options.  I recommend researching the vendors as soon as possible.  Some private loans are designed to cover previous semester charges.  For example, say you CURRENTLY have a balance from the PREVIOUS semester; a company like Sallie Mae may allow a private loan to cover that previous semester balance.

I begin the private loan process as soon as I receive the year's financial aid package.  At my university, this can be anytime around late June or the month of July.  In my experience, though approval based on credit health can happen instantly, time is often needed to confirm cost of attendance.  The private loan vendor will contact the university's financial aid office to confirm the cost of attendance.  This can take anywhere between 5 to 10 business days, but varies based on your vendor and the efficiency of your university's financial aid office.  NOTE: I emailed the financial aid office in advance as soon as I knew I was approved for the private loan.

After your vendor confirms the cost of attendance, it can take anywhere between 5 to 10 more business days before the funds are transferred to the university.  My university has a category called "anticipated funds."  Anticipated DOES NOT EQUAL distributed.

As you can see from the example above, the process can take up to approximately 20 business days (one month).

ONE STEP FURTHER: Some vendors direct the check to you.  Others send it to the university.  If you need the additional funds to pay for books (i.e. you need some of those funds in YOUR bank account), then you must take into account the university's REIMBURSEMENT time.  This can add yet another 10 business days to the entire process.

IN CONCLUSION

As you can see, it is important to begin the process of applying for private loans as soon as you know how much you will need for the ACADEMIC YEAR (Academic Year based on FAFSA).  There are many parties involved in the process.  A friend of mine had their financial aid officer go on vacation during the process.  It took over 3 months before she was finally cleared and the funds were processed.

[Anonymous]

These last two replies were exactly what I needed! Thank you Pat94108 and TenaciousOne!

[onstar]

Private loans usually come pretty quickly, often less than 2 weeks. So I was going to say about a month before you need it but Pat above already said that. The reason for a month instead of 2 weeks is because something in the paperwork may require correction or additional review. It's always good to have a little buffer, right?

Since you seem open to other ideas, I would like to suggest that you also look at some grant options. Every year, millions of dollars go unused because of lack of applicants. My cousin went to University of Michigan for nearly free. She had a little bit of scholarship, but she got enough grants to pay for the rest of tuition, fees, books, and part of living expenses. She had summer jobs and was an RA her last year to pay for the rest of the living expenses. She graduated with no student loans and taking no money from her parents. About the grants. She applied to over 100 different grants. So many banks, businesses, and other organizations have various grants. Most required essays, but she only wrote about 10 essays total. Some essays could be reused for one grant after another. Some grants didn't require anything except for an application form and a high school transcript (strictly grade based). Some of the grants that she got were only $100 but many were over $1000 including some that were over $5K. Another example is my coworker who did a paid internship in London which was sponsored by a bank in Boston (this was like 10 years ago). He found the program, applied for it, and was given the grant. He said he wrote a really good essay, but the main reason that he got it was because no one else had applied. He got to go to London for the summer, with the apartment there all paid for, a small stipend, and school credit.

Anyway, I don't know how beneficial these links would be and maybe you already looked at these, but I did a quick 10 minute research for you and found these:

http://www.grants.gov/

http://www.science.gov/internships/graduate.html

http://www.collegescholarships.org/grants/graduate.htm

https://www.myscholly.com/ (featured in Shark Tank; caused a fight?)

Best wishes in school. Are you starting undergrad? Grad school? What will you be studying?

I was a professional student for a while (5 years undergraduate; 4 years graduate in 3 different/unrelated programs).

[Anonymous]

Onstar, this is GREAT!!!  I'm also a professional student:  full time employee of my university (I get 7 credits paid for each term; 3 terms in an academic year); full time undergrad that bleeds into a masters program in the last year.  Painful, yes... worth it, also yes!