Katharine Gibbs School Loans Norristown Pennsylvania

A good financial aid officer would tell you to avoid private or alternative loans at all costs - take them only as an absolute last resort when the alternative would be not attending school at all. They have lack any real regulation (except for the umbrella truth in lending laws) and protections for the student such as deferment and forbearance options, income based repayment and discharge are at the discretion of the lender, and in many cases non-existent.

If you exhausted your Stafford eligibility and didn't qualify for any need based aid, most state education departments have a low-cost loan option with many of the same protections as federal loans. I'm appalled that Gibbs pushed you so hard to take a private loan, but I'm also not surprised. Many of these commercially run career schools have very financial aid practices that are designed to maximize the school's bottom line, some of which with questionable legality.

For the future, regardless of what the school might try to tell you, you ALWAYS have the right to pick your own lender, you never have to go with the "prefered" list they give you. If you need to take a private loan, it is definitely a good idea to apply to a few places and shop around for the best rate and terms. 14% - even on a private loan doesn't sound right, makes me wonder if Gibbs has or had some kind a interest sharing agreement with Sallie Mae.