Government student loans are a federally funded monetary source for present and future college students. Students and their parents are offered these loans by making use of the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) or the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program (FDL). The biggest difference is that the government supports the FDL, and private lending organizations fund the FFELP. Otherwise they are similar.

There are 3 types of loans the govenment programs provide. First is Stafford Loans. These make up the largest share of FFELP's funding resources. They grant eligible students with the money needed to reach their higher education goals. The loans do not involve credit checking and can be promptly available to students who may have bad credit ratings. Also, no payments need be made by the student until six months after leaving school, granting the student a grace period to becoming employed.

Second is PLUS (Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students). With this loan, a college student's parents can finance up to 100% of their child's college education, less any grants or scholarships. This loan features a reasonable interest rate, and features a borrower benefits program that could reimburse some of the interest investment when the loan is disbursed.

Third is a Student Loan Consolidation program, that would allow consolidation of the other loans. The idea here is to obtain a single significantly lower loan payment spanning a term of from 10 to 30 years, depending on the outstanding loan amount.

Colleges usually offer either the FFELP or FDL programs, but some offer both. Please check with the college of your choice to discover which program you possibly will be borrowing from, and which steps need to be taken to apply for a government loan.