Alternative loans, also referred to as private or outside loans, may be beneficial to students, who have borrowed the maximum federal direct loan amount for the award year, are enrolled for less than 6 hours, have a parent plus loan denial or need additional funds to meet additional educational costs. Typically, alternative loans have higher interest rates than Federal Direct Student Loans and sometimes require a minimum payment of interest while in school. A loan co-signer, with good financial credit, is usually required of student borrowers. Students should consider Federal Direct Loans before considering alternative loans. The college has no involvement in applying for or obtaining alternative loans for students. Once the student has applied for an alternative loan through a loan lender, the lender will send the loan information to the school to certify the loan.
Alternative loans are not part of the federal direct lending program. They are governed by federal regulations but are funded by private organizations. Alternative loans are designed to help students and families with educational expenses after federal, state and institutional financial aid has been awarded. Historically interest rates are based on credit and set by the lender. Students are encouraged to research interest rates for lenders before choosing a lender. The responsibility of the all accruing interest is that of the borrower. Alternative loans cannot be included in federal loan consolidation. The lender will have to determine if they will participated in deferment for students who are attend graduate school. Most alternative loans will require a credit worthy cosigner and credit will be reviewed each time borrowers apply for an alternative loan.
Truett McConnell University maintains a historical list of lenders who are still active in alternative loan lending and have participated in alternative loans for our students in the past. This list is not a preferred lender list, instead, it is a list of lenders who have participated with our students in the past. We do not endorse any lender and the list provided is not an exhaustive list of alternative student loan lenders. We encourage our students to research the lenders, their interest rates, fees, and approval ratings; and then choose the lender that best fits their needs. The lender does not have to be on this historical lenders list and TMU agrees to participate with any lender that the student chooses. The lender will need to use the ELM Resources ELMNet interface to send the loan information to the school.
Historical List of Lenders: ELMSelect