Do Not Let Bad Credit Keep You From College

Bad credit should not keep you from attending a college or a university. Finding a student loan may be easier if a student has a gold-plated credit score, but funding for students with bad credit is possible. For instance, you could apply for the most popular U.S. Department of Education Loan. Called a Stafford Loan, the qualifications assume that most students will be going to college right after having been graduated from high school.Most Students Just Do Not Have a Credit RatingThat being true, most students would not have had a chance to establish any credit to determine a rating. So, those loans do not even consider credit scores when factoring approvals. A similar rule holds for Perkins Loans. These are federal loans set aside for the neediest college students. In fact, the only reason either of these loans would be denied to a student is if that student defaulted on a federally funded student loan previously.Parents May Qualify for Education LoansIf you have managed to have a ruinous credit history, a bad credit student loan may be had if your parents have a better credit history than yours. Should this be the situation, a PLUS loan, a loan which is granted to the parents rather than the student, might be a good path to pursue. U.S. Department of Education student loans assume that parents are going to be obliged to cover a certain amount of their student's education.Federal Funding the Best ChoiceLoans dependent on federal funding are the best choices for bad credit student loans. They are engineered to help make higher education accessible to as many young adults as possible. Their requirements are not so stringent than those of banks and other financial institutions or lending companies. But, it a U.S. Department of Education student loan is out of reach, students and their families may have to resort to private lenders. Should you be planning to receive your degree in a discipline that promises high future earnings, such as law or medicine, you may have a decent chance of getting a bad credit student loan from private lenders.Amalgamation May Be NecessaryGiven all the options presented above, you may be able to cobble together enough funds to finance your education from a variety of sources. Even if you do have to rely on some private lenders, you could seek relief in the future. Most student loans, bad credit or federally funded, usually defer payment until studies are complete. This could give the student time to work on improving his or her credit scores. Once studies are ended and the student embarks on a career, he or she may look into student loan consolidation. That would make the student owe only one creditor and probably at much better interest rates with more affordable monthly payments.One Word of WarningBe aware that should the student consolidate federally funded personal loans under a new lender, those loans will be wiped off the books. Later on, if the student does volunteer work or pursues a career with a non-profit charitable organization, those loans could have been forgiven if still in their original form. Once consolidated they would not be eligible for forgiveness.Never Should Bad Credit Prevent Higher EducationNo matter how the education is ultimately funded, there is no reason bad credit should ever prevent a young adult from pursuing a higher education, even if it does take a bad credit student loan to do it.