If you already have federal Stafford student loans and you still need more money to pay for school, you can still apply for a traditional private student loan.  However, these alternatives are credit based and can carry high interest rates.  You can use credit cards or your parents’ home equity, but even their high interest rates and restrictive terms make them very risky

Fortunately, there are other lower cost resources that you may be able to use, such as the ones below: 

1. Talk to Your School’s Financial Aid Office

The staff has up-to-date information on alternative student loans, grants, and other resources specific to your school. 

2. Apply for a Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS)

If Stafford loans won’t cover all your costs, consider applying for a PLUS loan.  Parents can borrow up to the amount of college costs, minus any financial aid that the student received.  PLUS loans carry a fixed rate of 8.5%.  That rate may be lower than the one you can get on many traditional private student loans.

3. Seek Alternative Student Loans from Parents, Other Family Members, and Friends (Social Network)

We’re not just talking about simply asking them for a handout (although free money would be nice) but rather a student loan.  You can work out a contract with your parents, family members, and friends stating that you promise to pay the school loan back to them by a certain date.  Or you can use a peer-to-peer (P2P) service, like GreenNote, to help formalize a loan.  These services can also potentially expose you to other people who want to help students by lending them money for school.

4. Create a Short Film and Post in Streaming Video Sites

Make a short film showcasing your needs for getting more school funding as well as more of who you are and email it to people you know.  You can also post your film in YouTube and other streaming video sites to reach out to other people outside of your social network.  If you registered with GreenNote or any other P2P loan companies, you can have people contact you through those companies.  We highly recommend that you do not show any private information in the film, especially as a form of contact, for safety reasons.

5. Look for Work-Study Programs or Get a Research Grant

You can get free money for your tuition without paying it back by working in a work-study program or conducting your own research with an advisor.  Plus, you can also get work experience on your resume after you graduate, making you more of a viable candidate for hire. 

So here are some additional ways for you to consider in getting more money for school.

Here is a very powerful story of a student that successfully completed a loan recently that aired on ABC today:

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/education&id=6286871

Key takeaways:

- Create a detailed profile: put a picture

- Invite as many people as you can to help support your loan (friends, family, professors, teachers, friends of friend’s etc.) you will be surprised at how many people want to support someone who is helping themselves get an education.  Tell your friends you will be taking a loan from them and GreenNote will handle all the details including providing them a return on their money

- Make your profile public, so that other can see it

- You win by getting a low cost loan and the lenders benefit by getting the satisfaction of helping you and getting a return on their money.

GreenNote Launches “GreenNote Network” to Help Students Connect with More Lenders

Company Extends Service to Enable Anyone to Find and Lend to Students Based on Common Interests  

NASFAA CONFERENCE, ORLANDO, Fla.– July 08, 2008 – GreenNote (www.greennote.com) today launched the GreenNote Network, which enables anyone to help students by lending them money for college as well as earning a good return on their investment.

Anyone – individuals, institutions and affiliation groups – can participate in the GreenNote Network. Interested lenders use GreenNote’s online tools to search for students based on a wide variety of criteria such as school of attendance, demographic information and/or area of study. They can then provide a student with a loan that helps them lower their costs of going to college and, in return, receive a fixed return of 6.8 percent per annum on their loan. 

“Our vision is to enable social lending for education that allows the general public to be able to help students secure low-cost loans,” said Akash Agarwal, CEO and Founder of GreenNote. “The GreenNote Network is designed to give people an opportunity to support and invest in the education of others.”

Students with active loan requests through GreenNote choose whether they wish to participate with the GreenNote Network of lenders. Unlike private bank loans or other traditional loans, GreenNote does not require students to have a credit report, co-signer or show proof of citizenship. The rate is fixed at 6.8 percent compared to private lending alternatives that typically carry a variable rate up to 20 percent.

Lenders can provide as little as $100 to the students they wish to support. GreenNote manages the entire process by formalizing the agreements for all its lenders into legally binding loans and handles all the details from loan documentation through repayment, making it simple and easy for lenders to loan money to students.

GreenNote plans to work with all post-secondary schools in the country to help financial aid officers, students and parents best utilize the GreenNote alternative.

To find out more about becoming a GreenNote lender, visit www.greennote.com/lenders

We’ve been very pleased with how much response we’ve received from students and wanted to share what some students told us helped them conduct a successful  loan application :

- Complete your profile and share your story 

- Call your lenders and ask them to check their inbox for an email from you through   greennote.com

- Ask your lenders to check their junk mail folder or spam folders for an email from you through greennote.com (just in case it has been blocked)

- Think creatively about lenders that you could potentially add.  These people can be beyond your immediate friends and family.  Some examples could be churches, sports groups, community associations.  You can always return and add lenders via your borrower dashboard once you login to the GreenNote platform.

You can get some additional tips on our website at https://www.greennote.com/students/faqs/

Good Luck! 

 Subscription Required:

http://chronicle.com/daily/2008/06/3096n.htm

“GreenNote has made an effort to reach out to colleges and universities, like Santa Clara. Akash Agarwal, GreenNote’s founder and chief executive, said financial-aid offices at many colleges have been receptive”

We are excited about working with colleges and look forward to hearing from you.

Contact: eric@greennote.com 

· Using the GreenNote online platform, students connect with their social network—friends, family, friends of family, community leaders and other interested parties—to ask for small student loans. GreenNote helps formalize everything into legally binding loans and handles all the details from loan documentation through repayment. Interested third parties can also help students provide funds to students

· The benefits are significant. Students and parents gain access to low-cost loans, currently at 6.8% (rates is based on the Federal Unsubsidized Stafford Loan) compared to private lending alternatives with interest rates as high as 20%. The lenders–individuals–also earn a return on their money while helping a student get an education

Feel free to check out the site, or send us any questions you might have. That’s why we are here! You can also email us at help@greennote.com

–The GreenNote Team