Unsubsidized Stafford loans are one of the best student loans you can get to fund your college tuition. This is a federal student loan and has some compelling benefits. If you don’t have enough private school funding, the federal Stafford loan program should be your number one method of getting college financing.

One of the best things about the Stafford Loans is that credit history is NOT taken into account when you apply for this type of loan. This means if you are trying to find student loans for students with bad credit, you can actually qualify for Stafford Loans.

Since credit history is not looked at with the Stafford loan program, you don’t need a cosigner to apply for the loan. So if you are looking for student loans without cosigner, Stafford Loans are by far your best bet.

Stafford loans have very low interest and are easy to qualify for – hence they are the primary student loan that students seek out to pay for college.

There are basically two types of Stafford Loans you can qualify for, the Unsubsidized Stafford Loan and the Subsidized Stafford Loan. The subsidized Safford Loan is much better because the government will pay your interest until six months after you graduate.

However, you will need to prove to the government you are in financial need of the subsidized loan, otherwise you will end up with the unsubsidized loan. All students, regardless of financial need, can qualify for the unsubsidized version.

You will be considered for each type of loan when you apply. You may qualify for some part of the Stafford loan that’s subsidized and one part that is unsubsidized.

The interest for Unsubsidized Stafford Loan is charged right from the moment the loan is disbursed to the moment the loan is paid in full. The advantage is that you can have the payments deferred until after you graduate by capitalizing the interest. By capitalizing the interest I mean that the interest payments are added to the loan balance increasing the size and cost of the loan and hence the paying period is extended.

Now, one of the downsides to the Stafford loan is that you can only get a maximum of 4k a year for a total of 20k. This is not enough to pay for your university, so you will have to come up with the rest of the funding, either through other federal student loans, private student loans, grants, scholarships, working, and parental contributions.

Check out these other student loan guides:

• Best Student Loans for Bad Credit History
  
• Loans for Students with Poor Credit History
  
• Student Loans for People with No Credit History
  
• Private Student Loans with No Cosigner
• Stafford Student Loan Guide
  

Indeed, most students end up combining both subsidized loans with unsubsidized Stafford loans to borrow the maximum permitted each year. Regulations regarding the Stafford loan funding changes from time to time, which is why you need to check out Stafford Loan guides online to get up to date information.

A few years ago, the Stafford loans allowed any dependent undergrads to take out a Stafford loan amount between $2000 and $3500 for their freshman year, between $3500 to 4500 for their sophomore year, and a $5500 for each subsequent year. Also, any independent students turned down for the PLUS student loan are allowed an additional unsubsidized 4,400 for the first two years of college, and 5000 for the rest of the years.

If you want to apply for the Stafford Loan program, you will need to fill out the FAFSA form and submit it. It’s highly recommended that you look online for Stafford Student loan guides to familiarize yourself with how to get an unsubsidized Stafford loan.