By providing loans to Canadians enrolled in full or part-time post-secondary education studies, the CSLP is able to offer individuals the opportunity to participate in the process of lifelong learning.

The Government has assisted over 3.8 million students with over $16 billion in loans since the CSLP was founded in 1964. However, up until July 31, 2000, the Government of Canada and participating financial institutions worked together to finance the loans.

Rules were changed and as of August 1, 2000, the Government of Canada formed the new National Student Loans Service Center (NSLSC) and they now directly finance all loans. There are two divisions of the NSLSC, one to manage loans for students attending public institutions and the other to administer loans for students attending private institutions.

As a result, these student borrowers have one student debt and make a single payment when repaying their loans. And they maintain a separate consolidation and repayment process for their risk-shared and guaranteed loans.

They were having problems and decided to reform their system. They began improving program results, reducing costs per student, reducing defaults, decreasing loans written off, enhancing tracking data, improving services to students for study, repayment and collections.

The most favorable student loan for a US student would be a Federal loan. They have lower interest rates, options to postpone payments, longer repayment terms and easier credit requirements.

The Federal loans in which a student can choose from are the Federal Perkins Loan and the Federal Stafford Loan. Both types of these loans can be either subsidized or unsubsidized due to the student's qualifications.

Next, is the Federal PLUS loan (Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students), which is the final Federal loan program.

Private loans are designed to supplement Federal loans and are available from schools, banks, credit unions, and education loan organizations.

On terms for private loans, interest rates and fees vary according to the lender and your credit history and their rules of their individual company. They are not run nor governed by the Federal Government.

As you can see, students attending college here in the US could have many options, good or poor, without having a strong voice in the situation. It is usually dictated from their family's financial background and how they were encouraged to prepare for college.