Many students and parents need to borrow to fund the ridiculously high costs of a current college education. I always recommend maximizing use of the federal guaranteed student loan program (Stafford Loans). However, the most that is available for an undergrad is $27,000. This is spread over a 4 year period and everyone doesn’t even qualify to borrow this much, so additional loans are often required. One option is to look at the NJ Student Loan program. www.hesaa.org.
The NJ student loan program has been chastised for not being as forgiving as federal student loans if the student gets into financial difficulty or dies. Inside NJ – The NJ Debt Trap. While true, other terms of the NJ loans are generally more favorable than alternative private loans. The bottom line is to understand your loan terms and be careful how much is borrowed because it will probably need to be paid back!
New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA) also puts out a nice Student Loan Guide that you can access here. NJ Student Loan Guide (041615)