Education loans are loans taken for educations purposes. Educational loans are of many kinds: according to the sponsor (federal or private), according to the beneficiary (undergraduate, continuing education, insurance loans, parent loans, payment loans), according to the course: law school, medical school, dental school, MBA, general graduate, and post graduate. There are also career loans for people who are pursuing graduate or postgraduate education on a part-time to full time basis including evening, weekend, distance learning and continuing education programs.

Higher education loans are for graduate and post graduate courses. There are certain eligibility criteria to be met for getting these loans sanctioned. The applicant should be a graduate or professional student in a degree or certificate program and should be enrolled in school at least half-time (or as determined by the school). For credit-worthy applicants, the borrower or the co-signer should have good credit, employment, and residence history of at least 2 years. They should also have proof of income and should be a US citizen or a permanent resident and has resided in the US for the past 2 years. For a credit-ready borrower, the eligibility is US citizenship or a permanent residency (have resided in the US for the past 2 years). Certain credit criteria have to be satisfied. Most of these criteria are similar for continuing education loans as well. The minimum loan amount for higher education loans is $1,000 while the maximum limit is $30,000. The minimum repayment amount is $25. Maximum repayment period is 20 years. There are also deferment options available.

These days, getting a higher educational loan has become very easy. There are online applications as well as applications through the telephone. All that is required is the social security number, date of birth, employers name, phone number, years of employment, gross annual income (adjusted gross income for self employed individuals) and monthly rent, or mortgage payment. There are many loan programs to choose from. Repayment options are also sundry including standard repayment, graduate repayment, income-sensitive repayment, consolidation and pre-payment.

There are many loan options according to school and state. Information about these can be obtained from your school. There are also several websites that have up-to-date information about higher education loans. These also have easy options and tools such as loan calculators. Loans can be compared and even applied for online.