In order to be eligible for most types of government federal student loans, one must be a student or prospective student who has filled out a FAFSA, must have financial need as determined by your college or university, must be a U.S. citizen, a U.S. national, a U.S. permanent resident, or eligible non-citizen of the U.S. You also must not be in default on any educational loan.

Federal college student loans comes in two varieties, subsidized and unsubsidized. Subsidized student loans provide the borrower with a lower interest rate, because the government subsidizes the loan. You can qualify for one amount to be subsidized, and then the rest will be unsubsidized.

While there are quite a few alternative student loans out there, you shouldn’t try to use them until you have maxed out your Stafford student loans. It isn’t likely that there is a better deal than the Stafford. Stafford is available for both undergrad and graduate student loans and are basically the best student loans out there.

Since these loans are available to anyone that hasn’t defaulted on an educational loan, they are often called guaranteed student loans. They are also low interest student loans, currently falling in at about 6%.

Bad Credit Student Loans

Believe it or not, most federal student loans are offered to everyone, regardless of their credit history. Stafford loans are available to anyone – even to individuals that have poor credit. Perkins loans are also available to individuals that have poor credit, although they are only available to those who are at a severe financial disadvantage. Getting student loans with bad credit is fairly simple, as long as you don’t have an educational loan in default. For this reason, many people call Stafford and Perkins loans ‘no credit check student loans’. Alternative student loans will usually require a credit check

If you have poor credit, you will also want to look into the possibility of getting Pell grants. They are available to anyone who is deemed to be in need by their college or university.

Direct Student Loan

The direct student loan is provided directly by the U.S. Department of Education, who acts as a lender for Stafford loans. To qualify for a direct student loan, one must attend a participating institution, fill out a FAFSA, and create a master promissory note. This program is available for both graduate and undergraduate student loans.

Since the federal loan programs work regardless of credit history, they are truly amazing. For a fast student loans no cosigner application, visit the official government site.

International Student Loans

International student loans are provided mainly by private lenders. There currently is no federal program for this. The government really has no incentive to provide student loans for international students since most of them will not be paying taxes here in the U.S. However, there are plenty of options for people who are willing to work with a private lender.

Many of the private lenders who offer this type of loan for international students are willing to offer grace periods that make the loans quite desirable.