The FAFSA unlocks all federal student aid, including student loans, need-based Pell Grants, work-study and even some private scholarships. Colleges use the form to build financial aid offers for students. There’s no income limit to qualify for aid. The release is earlier than expected; the Education Department previously said it would open the FAFSA to all students by Dec. 1, 2024. It comes after nearly two months of limited FAFSA beta testing, during which time the form was open to select groups of students in phases. This was a strategy to avoid last year’s chaotic FAFSA rollout, which was marked…

Former President Donald Trump, a Republican, has won the U.S. presidential election, beating out the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris. He’s headed back to the White House in January. After four years of Democratic leadership under President Joe Biden, which included a historic expansion of borrower protections and roughly $175 billion in student loan forgiveness for nearly five million borrowers, Trump is poised to overhaul the federal student loan system and reign in relief options for struggling borrowers. Compared to Harris’s vision, Trump has a starkly different approach to student loan policy.If you’re repaying federal student loans, here’s what…

Bad-credit personal loans can help consumers with low scores break up major expenses into smaller monthly payments. Learn what a personal loan for bad credit is and what to expect if you get one.What is a bad-credit personal loan?A bad-credit personal loan is one that’s offered to consumers with credit scores below 630 and can be used to consolidate debt or cover a large expense. These loans are often unsecured, meaning they don’t require collateral to qualify, but some lenders offer both secured and unsecured loans for bad credit.Bad-credit loans are primarily offered by online lenders, but you may be…

Bad-credit personal loans can be a helpful tool for consolidating high-interest debt or breaking up a large expense like an emergency home repair into smaller monthly payments. However, these loans can have high interest costs and may take years to repay.Consider the pros and cons before you borrow, and weigh bad-credit loans against alternatives.Overview of personal loans for bad creditA bad-credit personal loan is generally offered to consumers with credit scores below 630. Some lenders’ minimum credit scores start as low as 550, but applicants with scores under 500 are unlikely to qualify.These loans are unsecured, meaning a lender bases…

Editor’s note: this story was updated on Oct. 22, 2024, with new information.SAVE borrowers do not owe monthly payments, and no interest is accumulating on their debt. Additionally, these borrowers are not earning credit toward IDR forgiveness or Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) during the payment pause.Here are the key facts borrowers need to know about the SAVE lawsuits, as of Oct. 22, according to an Education Department spokesperson:The payment pause, known as forbearance, is extended for at least six more months. If you’re already enrolled in SAVE, or you’ve applied for the plan, you won’t owe a payment until…

Mary Williams, 52, says she is the first in her family to go to college. After an earlier stint at Brooklyn’s Medgar Evers College, she re-enrolled in 2020 to continue an associate degree program in childhood special education. Originally from Trinidad, she aims to eventually earn her master’s degree.“I want to finish what I started,” says Williams, who takes night classes after her full-time day job working with special needs children. She also wants to show her daughter, now 22 and attending college herself, the importance of higher education — “doing something to better yourself, enhance your career.” Williams is…

A low credit score may not keep you from getting all types of loans. In fact, some lenders provide loans specifically for people with bad credit. These can include personal loans for bad credit, “buy now, pay later” plans and cash advances from mobile apps.Here are several types of loans for bad credit (a score below 630), why they’re worth considering and their potential risks.Personal loans for bad creditSome online lenders tailor personal loans to borrowers with low credit scores. Bad-credit personal loans can be $1,000 to $50,000, come as a lump sum and are repaid in equal installments over…

35+ personal loans reviewed and rated by our team of experts. 20+ years of combined experience covering personal loans and financial topics. Objective, comprehensive star rating system assessing 20+ categories and 70+ data points. NerdWallet’s personal loans content, including articles, reviews and recommendations, is produced by a team of writers and editors who specialize in consumer lending. Their work has appeared in The Associated Press, USA Today, The New York Times, MarketWatch and many other national, regional and local publications. They have been cited in publications including The Harvard Kennedy School, and appeared on NerdWallet’s “Smart Money” podcast as well as local…

This fall, high school seniors may find college acceptance letters in their mailboxes before they complete a single application. It’s not a scam — it’s a nascent college admissions program called “direct admissions,” offered by a growing number of states and third-party organizations. Students eligible for direct admissions receive college acceptance letters before they apply, usually during the fall of their senior year of high school. Direct admissions decisions typically hinge on GPA only. Students may have to submit supplementary application materials to finalize and accept their offers, but the process doesn’t require application fees, teacher recommendations, standardized test scores…

Students and families finally have an idea of what to expect from the 2025-26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the form that unlocks federal students loans, grants, work-study and scholarships for millions of Americans each year. The Education Department committed to fully launching the FAFSA by Dec. 1 — but select groups of students will be able to access and submit the form as early as Oct. 1. The early access is part of a beta testing process designed by the Education Department to identify and fix FAFSA issues before the form’s public debut. (In a typical FAFSA…