Show Students find loans Susan Kinzie The Washington Post The national credit crisis has caused confusion and some last- last minute scrambling for college students and their parents but most of them have been able to borrow the money they need to pay for school Students schools and analysts who monitor lending said its it's good if surprising news given the financial turmoil in the credit markets We haven't had a single student turned down for a loan said Melissa Gregory college director of financial aid at Montgomery Md College She was surprised especially because earlier this year some banks announced that they would no longer lend to students at community colleges More than lenders have pulled out of the student loan market according to Mark Kantrowitz publisher of org That included some dramatic departures late in the summer just when tuition bills were going out especially challenging this this year said James Boyle president of College Parents of America is that the college financial aid offices are themselves sort of reeling from various lenders dropping out its it's difficult for the financial aid offic offices s to keep pace let alone for parents to understand it Federal aid has remained by far the biggest source of loans But during the past decade the private market rose dramatically Now however many banks have adopted stricter rules trying to lower their risk so the hit hardest-hit Loans Continued on I I I l I 1 e II I I e t I i ir II I r f fw I w j l lLos Los Angeles Times photo by Lori Most young adults learn about alcohol through trial and error For the article see Students and Loans Continued from Al are students who dont don't have credit have poor credit or dont don't have someone to cosign cosign cosign co- co sign a loan Some financial aid officers see a bit of a bright brightside brightside brightside side to all of this It could make families more apt to choose federal loans which offer more protections than private loans such as deferments more-flexible more payment plans and loan forgiveness options Congress and the Department of Education stepped in to help federal loans this year by cutting the rate on certain loans for some students with low incomes by letting undergraduates borrow more money from a federal loan program and allowing the department to buy loans from some lenders to ensure that federal loans are available Kantrowitz estimated that 98 percent or more of students nationwide wont won't have any issues although many of the lenders have not gotten the money from the Department of Education so there is a chance for problems in the next couple of weeks Schools wont won't know for sure until this semesters semester's bills are paid At American University Brian Lee Sang director of the financial aid office said there were some reports of students having trouble and at George Washington University one or two dozen students in the law lawand lawand lawand and medical schools had to find new loans quickly when Education Finance suspended its loans 1 i The lender then announced last week that it would fund fum some on a limited ba basis is and the financial aid office worked with those students students to find other loans But there was a frantic nature to loan application applications this season adding to th the uncertainty One lender lende serving the University o of ot Maryland had said it might not be able to make loans only to come through with wit funding a week before school started j jIt It has been significantly significantlY significant worse for career colleges where many of the student students are working adults witH witti low incomes and without parents or others to si co-si cosia sign co-sign a loan said Bob Cohen senior vice president at th the Career College Association The federal intervention intervention has helped he said And And some career schools began loaning money themselves 1 J 1 I For those who dont don't have credit or help from relatives relatives who are now more likely to get turned down the options option option are more confusing and les less appealing including privat private loans that pile on costs 1 t 1 tA A lot of students ar are are ending up going with loan providers that have have extremely high rates because they don mind taking on people tha are a higher risk said Carmen Berkley president of the United States Student Association To get federal aid aid- students need to fill out an ark exhaustive form that som some families never get through Despite the minute last uncertainty a Sallie Mae Mae- Gallup survey last week found that two-thirds two of polled students ts with loans loan would have found round a way td pay for or sc R gj ev n 4 f t they eYt hadn't hadn t re received v a. a the th the a aid d. d I |