The next academic year has come to an end and many yesterday's schoolchildren will soon become students of higher educational institutions. True, now, in order to be able to continue further education at the university, it is necessary to have on hand a "tidy" amount of money, which not everyone has. Many parents of applicants are forced to go to extreme measures, selling real estate, a car, or taking out huge loans for these purposes. At the same time, mainly ordinary consumer loans are issued. While some banks offer targeted educational loans on special terms, you can start paying back only after a few years.
Credit for studying in Russia
Unfortunately, there are not so many credit organizations that issue targeted loans for studies in our country. The fact is that the Russian education system on a commercial basis has not yet reached the European level, and this service is not in great demand among bank clients either. The banks themselves do not contribute to this process, setting a rather high fee for the use of an educational loan - about 15-17%. After all, if we consider that the amounts issued for such loans are quite impressive, it becomes clear that not everyone can take advantage of this offer. In addition, many financial institutions prefer to lend only to applicants entering commercial universities, where tuition fees are much higher than in state educational institutions. For comparison, in the USA and European countries, a loan for training is a very common phenomenon, and the interest rate on such loans is 3-4 times lower.
What do you need to get a student loan?
When applying for an educational loan, there are usually two types of agreements between the borrower and the lender. One of them involves a loan intended directly to pay for tuition. The purpose of the second is to provide funds for other related needs of the student (accommodation, meals, etc.). Any citizen of the Russian Federation who has reached the age of 14 and entered any educational institution accredited by the bank can apply for an educational loan.
To apply for a loan for education, the borrower will need to provide the following package of documents:
- passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation;
- a copy of the contract with the university for paid education;
- invoice to pay for tuition.
If a loan is issued for a second higher education, then you need to provide the lender with a certificate of average earnings. If the borrower is a minor citizen, then when receiving a loan, it is required to additionally issue a surety or provide a pledge to the bank. The guarantors are usually the borrower's parents, and the collateral can be real estate or a car.
It is worth noting that in addition to the interest rate, additional bank commissions and fees may also be included in the cost of an educational loan. The loan for study is issued for a period of 10-15 years, while the repayment of the principal amount will occur only after the borrower receives a diploma. During training, only interest is paid for the use of credit funds.
Advantages and Disadvantages of an Education Loan
Since not all banks practice the issuance of targeted loans for education, the limited choice creates certain inconveniences. Quite often, the university cooperates with only one specific bank, which, as a monopolist, puts forward its own credit conditions. Credit insurance is carried out on the same principle - it is possible to insure only in an insurance company accredited by the bank. In addition, a mandatory requirement of the bank that issued the loan for training will be the successful delivery of the session. If this clause of the agreement is violated, the lender will unilaterally terminate the loan agreement and stop payments.
Also, there are often situations when the bank does not issue an amount sufficient for full tuition fees. The reasons can be very different, for example, insufficient income of the guarantor or low collateral value. In this case, you have to "borrow" the missing amount by making another loan.
The main advantage of an educational loan is the deferred repayment. This means that when the time comes to repay the loan body, the family will already have one more working person and it will be easier to repay the loan. However, for those students who wish to study and work at the same time, banks are ready to meet and can include part of the principal debt in monthly payments from the very first payment.
The advantages of a targeted loan for training also include the fact that tuition fees are paid by bank transfer to the current account of an educational institution, which means that you are not in danger of being expelled from the university for debts. In addition, when applying for an educational loan, the borrower can expect to receive compensation from the state in the amount of up to 50% of the loan amount.
