Choose a fixed or variable interest rate
Interest is the cost you’re charged for borrowing money. When you pay back a loan, you pay it back with interest, so you end up paying back more than you borrowed.
Choose a fixed or variable interest rate
Interest is the cost you’re charged for borrowing money. When you pay back a loan, you pay it back with interest, so you end up paying back more than you borrowed.
Benefit
Get predictable monthly payments with an interest rate that doesn’t change over time.
Consideration
Your total student loan cost may be higher because the interest rate may be higher than the starting variable interest rate.
Benefit
Your interest rate may be less than a fixed interest rate, resulting in a lower total student loan cost.
Consideration
Your interest rate can rise or fall as the market index changes, so your student loan payments may vary over time.
Our Smart Option Student Loan® for Undergraduate Students offers three repayment options. Each one will affect your total student loan cost differently.
Deferred repayment option
Make no scheduled loan payments while you’re in school and in grace (six months after leaving school).footnote 1
With this undergraduate student loan repayment option, you’ll likely pay more for your total student loan cost, since unpaid interest will be added to your principal amount at the end of your grace period.
Fixed repayment option
Pay $25 every month you’re in school and in gracefootnote 1,footnote 2. Freshman students may save 12%footnote 3 on their total loan cost by choosing the fixed repayment option instead of the deferred repayment option.
While your total loan cost will likely be less than with our deferred repayment option, unpaid interest will be added to your principal amount at the end of your grace period.
Interest repayment option
Pay your interest every month you’re in school and in grace. Your undergraduate student loan interest rate will typically be 1 percentage point lower than with the deferred repayment option. Freshman students may save 23%footnote 3 on their total loan cost by choosing the interest repayment option instead of the deferred repayment option.
Your undergraduate student loan payments will likely be larger while you’re in school and in grace, but your total student loan cost will likely be lower than with the other repayment options.
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