Private Student Loans
If you have exhausted all federal aid, scholarship, and grant options, you could consider applying for a private student or parent loan to cover the remaining cost of attendance. While USF does not recommend, promote, or endorse any lenders, you may use FASTChoice to review lenders that have made loans to USF students in the past 3 years. When researching and applying for private loans, please allow up to 30 days for the private loan to be processed by both the lender and USF.
Researching Private Loans on FASTChoice
Borrowing Essentials is a loan counseling tool, which provides an interactive overview of some basic information about borrowing money to pay for your education. Please allow 20 minutes to complete the optional loan counseling tool.
Loan Options provides a comparison list of lenders that USF students have borrowed from within the last three years. The list is NOT a preferred lender list or lender arrangement. If you are considering a lender that does not appear on our list, you should collect the same comparative information in order to make an informed decision.
*Please Note: USF does not certify private loans for non-degree seeking students. Refer to your lender's terms and conditions to determine if meeting satisfactory academic progress standards (USF SAP) is required.*
Private Loan Certification
Once approved for your private educational loan, the lender submits a certification request to the Office of Financial Aid within 3 to 5 business days.
Federal regulations prohibit a student from receiving aid from all sources in excess of the semester's Cost of Attendance — the certification of a private loan ensures that the student is not over awarded for either the semester or academic year. Certification requests are processed within 3 to 5 business days of receipt. Private loans will appear on the financial aid package and as "expected financial assistance" on the View and Pay section of myUSF once certified.
Private Loan Disbursement
Lenders are required to provide the borrower with a right-to-cancel period for their lender-approved and school-certified loans. The right-to-cancel period may take between 3 to 10 days, depending upon the lender. Private loan funds are released to USF after the right-to-cancel period has expired and are disbursed to students' accounts on the semester's disbursement date (10 days prior to the start of the semester). Private loan funds received after the semester's disbursement date will be disbursed within 2 to 3 business days after receiving the funds.
Private Loans for International Students
Below is a list of lenders that provide educational loans for international students. Please note, some of these loan companies require a co-signer that is a US citizen and/or permanent US resident.
- Ascent Private Student Loan
- Citizens One Private Student Loan
- EDvestinU Private Student Loan
- LendKey Private Student Loan
- MPOWER Private Student Loan (no co-signer required)
- Sallie Mae Private Student Loan
- SoFi Private Student Loan
For information on outside scholarships for International Students, please refer to this database/guide.