The times when everyone could count on getting a free higher education and guaranteed employment, unfortunately, were far behind. Of course, in modern universities there are still budget places, but every year their number is reduced. And given the fact that the cost of paid tuition increases from year to year, and not every family has such funds, many parents begin to think about applying for an educational loan.
pros
The most important advantage is, undoubtedly, the opportunity to get an education at the university of your dreams. Moreover, as a rule, the repayment of the debt is designed so that during the training it is only necessary to pay interest, and the loan body can be returned to the bank after graduation. There are several other advantages in obtaining an educational loan:
- loans are granted not only to those who plan to enter the inpatient department, but also to students who prefer correspondence or evening form;
- programs extend not only to universities and institutes, but also to other educational institutions: academies, colleges, technical schools;
- an increasing number of banks are offering the opportunity to start paying off the main debt and interest accrued on it, not from the moment of receiving the diploma, but three months after that, that is, the graduate has time to find a job;
- the possibility of state subsidies is also very useful: using it, you can halve the cost of an educational loan;
- the bank always independently transfers the necessary amount to the account of the educational institution and does this on time.
Every year, like all other types of lending, this type is becoming more accessible to people - banks offer the most loyal and favorable conditions.
Minuses
Any coin has a flip side, and educational loans to students are no exception:
- perhaps the main drawback is that most banks agree to cooperate only with those institutions that have state accreditation;
- banks are quite attentive not only to the choice of the university itself, but also to the profession that the borrower wants to master, evaluate its prospects, relevance and reliability;
- almost always there is a need to make a pledge or provide a bank of guarantors (the latter, as a rule, are the student’s relatives, and a car, real estate or securities can be used as a pledge);
- if the student does not pass the session or decides to stop studying, the termination of the transaction will cost him a very round amount.
Before applying for an educational loan, you should clearly weigh the pros and cons, as well as choose a profitable banking offer.
Terms and Interest
The first bank to introduce such programs was Sberbank. However, this trend was soon picked up by many other institutions. Nevertheless, most of them provide an opportunity to get an educational loan in Russia on similar conditions:
- the loan is issued in rubles;
- the return period is 10-11 years;
- interest rate - 12-20%.
Some banks, among other things, provide an opportunity to get a loan for studying abroad, but in this case the borrower must be more than 21 years old and the interest rate is much higher.