Private Loans
San Diego Miramar College offers alternative loans (a.k.a. Private Student Loans)
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- Alternative loans (a.k.a. Private Student Loans) are not part of the federal student loan programs; therefore, federal guarantees and benefits may not apply. Benefits to borrowers are at the sole discretion of the lender.
- San Diego MIramar uses ELMOne to process alternative loans, a single processing gateway; https://www.elmone.com. Please note, that if you selected a lender that does not work with ELMOne, please contact the Financial Aid Office for assistance with an alternative process.
- Private Student Loans do not require a FAFSA, submitting an application is strongly recommended to ensure that students are first taking advantage of the best financial aid programs. Click on the link to complete the FAFSA: www.studentaid.gov.
- Alternative loans are more expensive than federal student loans and should only be used when all other federal and state alternatives have been exhausted. This includes scholarship funds.
- Your FICO score will play an important role in determining your interest rate. The score takes into consideration the borrower's repayment history, amount of credit allowed, the highest debt balance, borrowing patterns, over the limit accounts, bank over-drawings, etc.
- The time in which the interest rate will be determined:
- At the time of signing the promissory note (present time) or,
- At the time of repayment (unknown date and personal financial circumstances).
- The kind of interest rate assigned to the loan:
- Fixed Interest Rate will not change from the time of signing the promissory note until paid in full.
- Variable Interest Rate will change according to the terms in the promissory note. Make sure that you understand the terms of a variable interest rate.
- The lender's loan limit.
- Many lenders allow a student to borrow from as little as $500.00. Each lender will publish their aggregate maximum borrowed loan limit.
- The student's loan limit is determined by the following formula:
Published Cost of Attendance ÷ Budget of Any Other Aid
= Student's Alternative Loan Limit