What Are Institutional Student Loans

Q: When I was looking up information on institutional student loans, I came across both long-term institutional student loans and short-term institutional student loans. What is the difference between long-term institutional student loans and short-term institutional student loans?

A: The best place to learn more about institutional student loans is going to be at your college’s financial aid office, since institutional student loans are loan programs specific to each university or college. When it comes to college financial aid and student loans, most financial aid experts will agree that it is best to exhaust all federal financial aid options (FAFSA) before moving on to additional student loan programs. For students who have exhausted their federal financial aid options, and are still in need of more money for college, they may want to look into their schools institutional student loan programs before turning to private student loans.

The difference between long-term institutional student loans and short-term institutional student loans can be found within the loans terms. The big difference is that short-term institutional student loans do not typically have a grace period, meaning that individuals usually have to began repayment on the first day of the last month in a semester. However, because institutional student loan programs will likely differ from one school to the next, it is highly important to ask your schools financial aid office any questions you may have regarding their long-term or short-term institutional student loan programs.