Minnesota State SELF Loan Program

The Student Educational Loan Fund (SELF) Program is an educational loan provided by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education and is available to students attending eligible post-secondary schools within Minnesota. For detailed information including interest rates and repayment terms, please go here.

To begin the SELF Loan application process, click here.

ALTERNATIVE PRIVATE LOANS

Private alternative loans provide another way to help students realize a Carleton education. There are many different alternative loans available to students through a variety of lenders. There have been an increasing number of students using alternative loans in the past few years. However, alternative loans are less regulated by the government and more prone to abuse by lenders dealing with financially strapped students who may not have many other options (including parent unwilling to contribute) for financing college. So, before applying for any loan, be sure you understand the repayment terms, conditions, and payment amounts. The payment amount is affected by the interest rate, the amount borrowed and the length of repayment.

Carleton's Student Financial Services Office evaluated a number of lenders and consider them as offering good terms. Carleton does not endorse any lender listed and only offers this list as a service for students. You can explore alternative private loans here.

If you are interested in exploring alternative loan other than the ones listed, we have provided a link below to a site that lists a number of alternative loans. Again, Carleton does not endorse any lender and provides this link only as a courtesy for our students.

Greentree Gazette - By default, all loan types are checked on the upper left hand corner. Uncheck the other loan types leaving just Private Loans as the only type chosen.

You can also find a useful calculator to calculate monthly payments and determine the cost of your loan at http://www.finaid.org/.