It may be time to look into Virginia student loans, which can offer you low cost, low interest rates, and long term repayment alternatives to standard private loans.

If you are a resident of Virginia and you are considering your college career and your future, you may want to consider staying in state to obtain your degree. This is a much less expensive option than attending an out of state school and paying those tuition costs. However, you are still finding it difficult to foot the bill for even an in state college or university, although you have already applied the funding offered by the federal government. It may be time to look into Virginia student loans, which can offer you low cost, low interest rates, and long term repayment alternatives to standard private loans.

The Educational Credit Management Corporation guarantees FFELP loans for the state of Virginia, offering lower interest rates in comparison to federal sources of the loan because it has access to tax exempt educational bonds for funding. However, the agency can also provide alternative student loans to fund the greater portion of the bill that is often not supported by federal loans. In order to do so, the ECMC partners with several major lending agencies, including Sallie Mae and Bank of America, who are well known providers of student funding, to create programs that offer low cost, low interest, long term loans for students in need. Most of these programs require either interest only payments through a grace period after graduation or no payments at all until the grace period ends (generally, grace periods are anywhere from 90 days to six months).

Another source of alternative Virginia student loans is a not-for-profit lending agency, as opposed to a financial entity whose goal it is to profit from approving loans. These agencies will offer the lowest possible interest rates from the start and offer incentives such as cuts in interest rate for continuous on time payment or direct withdrawal of payments from your bank account. You might also check with your school of choice and see if there is a preferred lending source they wish you to use.

Sallie Mae has also recently created specialized Virginia student loan programs for students pursuing careers in teaching and nursing. Look for opportunities through the Teach for Virginia Student Loan Program and the Care for Virginia Student Loan Program.