College student loans are available through Sallie Mae and its subsidiary Nellie Mae, Citibank, The Stafford Federal Loan, Perkins (which is a low five percent interest loan for students funded federally and paid back directly to your school) and many private lending institutions. The Plus program where parents can borrow at a low rate to help fund their child's continuing education is also available. You can access all of these programs online.

You can no longer consolidate your college student loans while you are in school but after graduation you can consolidate to ease the financial strain by merging all the different loans into one and spreading the resulting consolidated loan over 12 to 30 years.

College student loans are a scary subject for some students and parents but with some careful planning and some research you will be able to fully fund your college needs. When you are at the beginning of your college career, the whole subject of student loans seems overwhelming. Don't despair, you will be able to negotiate all the arrangements to suit your style and pocketbook and after an initial exposure the whole subject becomes nothing more than a little tedious. But you must do it and exercise due diligence before accepting the terms of new loans and arrangements. Talk to other students in front of you, your career counselor and other family members who have already travel led this road.

The program, free application for student aid known as FAFSA is a federally funded aid program that will seek out and find what grants and scholarships you qualify for before you must look into any loans at all. Funds are disbursed directly to the school you plan to attend with any reminder paid directly to you from your college. You can access FAFSA online at www.fafsa.ed.gov to find the appropriate details and forms. There are no fees involved.

Get started now on your college funding program. It will quickly become old hat to you and the trepidation will be replaced by familiarity. Good Luck!