A Sallie Mae student loan is a great way to pay for your college expenses. Sallie Mae can help you obtain a federal loan along with alternative financing for those students who cannot otherwise qualify. Federal loans will typically have the best interest rates and payback policies. Federal loans include the Stafford loan and the Perkins loan.
The Perkins Loan is unique in the fact that the school you attend will act as the lender, however not all schools will participate in the Perkins loan program. On the other hand, Sallie Mae can act as the lender for a Stafford Loan, or they can act as the guarantor for the lender.
You can also get a private Sallie Mae student loan if you do not meet the Federal guidelines. A private Sallie Mae student loan is typically called an alternative student loan as it is personal and generally not subsidized.
Rather than going to a bank for a private loan, you can use a Sallie Mae student loan. The rates tend to be lower and payment terms better than what you can usually obtain at a bank.
However many students find that they actually need more than one student loan in order to pay for college, some of the loans will have different interest rates, terms of payments, and payment dates. These students find that it may be advantageous to consolidate all of their loans into one Sallie Mae student loan. This may, or may not, be the best thing to do in your case. If you decide to consolidate your loans into a Sallie Mae student loan you may end up paying a higher interest rate, or change the terms of your loan, where the interest is now due, when previously you had an interest deferred loan. You need to take into consideration that once you consolidate your Sallie Mae student loan, you cannot go back and change it to the way it previously was.