NEWARK, Del.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sallie Mae® (Nasdaq: SLM) – Graduation season is here, and thousands of college grads across the country are turning their tassels and looking to what’s next. For an increasing number of students, this means planning for their next degree: 64% believe a graduate degree is the new minimum standard level of education for any professional occupation, according to How America Pays for Graduate School, Sallie Mae and Ipsos’ national research study.
In response to the growing need to finance this next step, Sallie Mae offers six distinct graduate student loan products that were co-created with graduate students, uniquely designed to responsibly assist in paying for their advanced education.
“We’ve worked with students throughout their undergraduate and graduate school journey, and want to ensure that we equip them to build prosperous futures,” said Kelly Christiano, senior vice president, Sallie Mae. “After talking with them in depth about their goals and challenges, it became clear that a one-size-fits-all approach won’t always meet their specific financing needs and that they require loans that can address the nuances of their specific fields of study.”
Sallie Mae offers six discipline-specific graduate school loans, including the Sallie Mae Law School Loan, Sallie Mae MBA Loan, Sallie Mae Health Professions Graduate Loan, Sallie Mae Graduate School Loan, Sallie Mae Medical School Loan, and the Sallie Mae Dental School Loan. Each graduate loan features a choice of competitively priced fixed or variable interest rates, no origination fees or prepayment penalties, and loan amounts that can cover up to 100 percent of the school-certified expenses, including tuition, food and housing, and books and supplies. Additionally, Sallie Mae offers full-year borrowing, meaning students can apply once and receive the funds they need for an entire year, providing a more convenient, affordable, and savvy way of managing financing.
Sallie Mae’s graduate student loans also offer:
Cosigner release. Customers (primary borrowers) may apply to have their cosigner released from the loans after they graduate, meet certain credit requirements, and make 12 on-time principal and interest payments — the shortest qualification period among private student lenders.
Rate reduction for auto-debit. Customers can reduce their interest rate by 0.25 percentage points by enrolling in the automatic debit option.
Free access to credit scores. Customers, including cosigners, have free access to their FICO® Credit Score, along with information about factors that affect credit scores and why monitoring credit scores is important.
In addition to financing options that meet their specific needs, graduate students expressed a desire for more information on how to pay for grad school, including resources to successfully manage repayment and find ‘free money’, like scholarships. In response, Sallie Mae created the free Graduate School Scholarship Search tool, a home to more than 950,000 graduate-specific scholarships, worth up to $1 billion. Available scholarships and fellowships run the gamut of graduate school disciplines, including business, law, medical, healthcare and nursing, engineering, and education, and range from a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars.
For more information on graduate student loans or to apply, visit SallieMae.com.
Sallie Mae (Nasdaq: SLM) believes education and life-long learning, in all forms, help people achieve great things. As the leader in private student lending, we provide financing and know-how to help make college happen and offer products and resources to help customers make new goals and experiences, beyond college, possible. Learn more at SallieMae.com. Commonly known as Sallie Mae, SLM Corporation and its subsidiaries are not sponsored by or agencies of the United States of America.
