Loans are, thanks to the recent credit crunch, rather difficult to obtain of late. Private lenders have been given the gift of a bailout, but how much has this helped? Getting up to your eyes in debt is never a good idea, but a loan now and again really does help. Scholarships and grants are down, so it looks like loans are going to have to pick up the slack.

Opting Out
With loans becoming more difficult to obtain–and more difficult to pay off–many students are avoiding them all together. The horror stories of paying off student loans for the rest of your life have also scared students off. Many students are trying other funding options.

Getting a job or working more both result in more money for school, but you can only burn the candle at both ends for so long. Credit cards shouldn’t be used for anything that you can’t pay off in the short term. Some students are simply opting out for a while and choosing to finish up their degrees when things settle down a little bit.

Loan Info
Federal Family Education Loans (FFELs), direct loans, and PLUS loans are still options for funding. Bailouts have been aimed at keeping these loans available. Direct loans have seen an increase lately (30 percent of schools participating in 2008-09, up from 19 percent in 2007-08), thanks to lower financing rates and increased fear about getting any money at all from private lenders.

It seems like bailouts will save loans, but they may come with ridiculous interest rates. The bottom line here is that you need to do your homework before going with one loan or another. Talk with financial aid experts to find out what will be best for you.