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What is the best course of action in locating a lender if you are a student requiring financial aid?  Every college and/or university has a financial aid office.  This office will be able to provide you with a “Preferred Lender List” via their online website or by visiting the college financial aid office.

This is a great way to ascertain the type of lender, debts interest rate, contact information, benefits, and links to the lender’s website.  The lender list offers a wide range of choices for the student.  It is the first step in the path to finding the most affordable loans available.

Another way to find a flexible lender is to visit the colleges your son or daughter wishes to attend and speak to the admission’s office or financial aid office to obtain more information.

Most colleges throughout the nation have their own website.  Most of them have financial aid information posted on the site, or have a telephone number you can call for more information.

Due to the economic crisis, however, many lenders are no longer available in the FFEL program.  To this end, the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act was signed into law in November of 2007.  But this has only added another burden to most colleges.  Students had to be notified that they had to find new lenders.

According to Next Student, Thousands of college students may still not be aware that they’ll need to find new lenders.  At the University of Wisconsin at Madison, administrators have just begun notifying the students who will need to switch FFELP lenders for the 2008–09 academic year.

Financial aid administrators at Occidental College in California will be informing all 1,000 returning students who are receiving financial aid that they too will need to find new lenders.  Instead of contacting students personally by phone or mail, Luzerne County Community College in Pennsylvania posts an updated lender list on its website to let students know which FFELP lenders are still available.

More than 40% of colleges, however, are taking this situation a step further by moving from the FFEL program to the Federal Direct Loan program.  This enables students to borrow funds directly from the U.S. Department of Education.  This will alleviate any fears that students will not be able to afford to go to college.  Currently, over 250 college and universities have joined the Direct Loan program.