Most students need guidance when it comes to learning about financial aid. When you want to secure a Stafford Federal student loan, you must first file your FAFSA at the FAFSAonline.com website, since it will save you a lot of time. Three to four weeks later, the student will receive a copy of their Student Aid Report and about a week later the student needs to look for a financial aid award letter from the school to which he or she has applied. The letter from the school will spell out the form of the aid, and the amount that you are eligible for.

With this award letter in hand, you can then get a promissory note that you have to sign. It will also contain directions on how to file it. The Federal Stafford Loan is one of the guaranteed loans offered at a low interest rate that are available to students. These loans can either be subsidized or unsubsidized.

The government pays the interest on subsidized loans at the time that the student is still in school and for a six month grace period after the student has left the school. On the other hand, interest is added to your account from the date of disbursement with unsubsidized loans. You can receive both unsubsidized and subsidized loans for the same enrollment period.

It is also possible for the student to take his or her federal student loan and consolidate it. Federal student loan consolidation is available and it provides all the required information for the student to take advantage of this repayment program. With federal student loan consolidations reaching unprecedented lows it has become advantageous to the student to receive federally guaranteed protection by using one of these programs.When you use one of the consolidation programs you're taking advantage of guaranteed protection offered by the federal government.

A good federal student loan program is the Federal PLUS loan that is a smart financial strategy that parents of students find useful. Apart from offering attractive terms, it enables you to meet your college obligations while paying below market interest rates. With this federal student loan, one gets interest rates as low as 8.5 per cent, is able to borrow 100 percent of the college costs and it is available all year round.

Approval is very fast, and it offers the added benefit of the interest being tax deductible. So, there is no need to procrastinate, and the student should not waste precious time, but act immediately and avail of such a federal student loan.