Oh, the freedom of living on campus. No parents around to give you a curfew or tell you what you can and can not do. That is the good life. Is it really? Only if you act accordingly. You are young adults now; therefore, you need to act as one. I have two young teenage daughters that want to go to college. Unfortunately, being a parent, I am a little frightened about the whole thing. One for sure wants to go away to college and that is the part that scares me.

Today, we are constantly hearing and seeing the headlines about college students succumbing to peer pressure and doing the stupidest things. I guess the only thing I can do is know that I have raised them with morals and character and hope for that teaching to kick in once they are out of my home. This is what all parents hope for.

Setting aside how a young adult acts when they are away at college, have you thought about how you will pay for college. If you are concerned about your child’s behavior and if they will stick it out. A private student loan would not be the way to go. Why, because once you get the money there may be a fifteen to thirty day grace period were you can return it without any penalties, however, after that it is a loan you will be stuck with for the entire loan term. This would include the interest.

Your first stop should be with the free online FASFA. This is a federally backed college student loan. If a college student decides to drop out the unused funds will be returned and you will only pay on what was used. The interest rates on a federal college student loan will be much lower as well. At this time a Stafford college student loan I believe is set at a fixed interest rate of 6%. A private college student loan would probably be upwards of double that interest rate.

The Stafford college student loan will come in two forms, the unsubsidized and subsidized college student loan. The subsidized college student loan the government will pay all the interest on the loan. So, once your student goes into repayment they will only be paying the principle as the interest will have already been paid by the government. The unsubsidized college student loan is not subsidized by the federal government so when it is time to repay they will being paying the interest plus principle. The subsidized college student loan is based on financial aid need as the unsubsidized is not.

These federal college student loan options can really help to save money when you are in doubt of what you college student may or may not accomplish. After all, college is not for everyone. It is important, however, that everyone is given the opportunity to try it on for size. So go ahead, file the free online FASFA and let your college age student see what they can do with this financial assistance. They just may surprise not only you but themselves.