Fill out the necessary paperwork. If you intend to seek a graduate school loan from a traditional source, like a traditional or online source, you'll need to fill out the FAFSA and submit it by the deadline. Once you receive your financial aid statement, you'll then take it to your preferred lending institution, fill out the necessary loan paperwork, agree to the terms, and receive your graduate school loan.
Contact a traditional local bank. If you've decided to go the traditional borrowing route, your current bank may be able to provide you with a graduate school student loan. To find out if they offer this financing program, you'll need to contact them directly and inquire about their private, Stafford and even PLUS loans. If they do offer grad school loans, compare rates, annual limits, disbursement methods, and repayment terms.
Contact an online financial institution. In addition to local banks, there are many financial intuitions that can be found online. Many of these offer services to students outside of their local area - students that are seeking graduate school loans. To find the best one, you'll can visit such comparison sites like www.Gradloans.com or input the data into a loan analyzer calculator to find the best deal for you. One great calculator can be found at http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loananalyzer.phtml for details.
Consider peer-to- per lending companies. There are numerous peer-to-peer lending companies like Prosper and Lending Club that will offer direct loans to students pursuing a college or grad school education. However, many of these institutions have strict requirements to be eligible. For instance, with Lending Club, you must be a least 18 years resident of certain states, have a valid social security number and bank account, credit score must be 660 or above, less than 65% debt ratio, and at least 3 credit lines with 2 of them being active.
Ask friends and family members to make a direct loan student loan. The way that the economy is now, everyone is looking for a way to make a better investment into their future and in most instances, if you offer to pay someone higher than normal interest rates on your loan, they may just accept your offer. For instance, if the bank rate is 2%, you can offer them 5% which would be double what they would receive at a bank.
Just make sure that you if you go this route that you put everything in writing and are both clear on the terms of the agreement. Stay committed to paying it back and make sure that you do so.
Obtaining a graduate student loan isn't easy but if you follow the above tips, you'll be able to finance your educational pursuits without worry. Good luck!