Newly graduated high school students are beginning the next chapter of their lives at their dream college and looking toward the future as they find their niche and perfect career. But with that next big step in their lives comes the inevitable: paying for college. Many families and their college-bound students not only struggle to find funding and loans for college but also to juggle the expenses that come with attending college. With Teachers Credit Union’s (TCU) college planning tools and student loans, students can get a jump start on paying for college and starting their new life on a successful note.
With over 50 locations in Indiana and Michigan, TCU is a one-stop shop for people looking for personal banking and loan solutions. On the student loan side, TCU is currently partnering with Credit Union Student Choice, a company that serves credit unions so they can offer fair-value student lending options and advice to students and members. This innovative private student lending solution is, according to TCU Student Loans Program Coordinator Bethaney Bauman, a perfect way for the credit union to be in a member’s life from the very beginning.
“We want to be involved in all stages of our members’ lives,” she said. “When they start college, we’re there to offer loans and student checking accounts, and then hopefully we can be there when they’re buying their first car or a mortgage on their first home. Providing these tools and resources when they begin their college careers really helps us to build that life-long relationship with our members.”
When students are looking for ways to pay for college and are not sure where to begin, Bauman advises them to have a conversation with their parents or guardians about what they’re able to afford and how to navigate the process.
“Most likely, they will need their parent or guardians to co-sign on any loans, so having a good conversation about what the student’s goals are and what is financially feasible for them is important,” she said. “I know when I was that age, I wasn’t sure what financial situation my parents were in when I was applying to colleges, so it’s important to have an open conversation.”
Bauman also emphasizes the importance of filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, commonly known as the FAFSA. After filling out the application, which can be done online here, students will have a better idea of what lower-cost, lower interest rate federal loans they qualify for, what grants and scholarships they qualify for, and where they may need to look for more sources of funding.
This is where TCU comes into play. With the innovative Undergraduate Line of Credit, students have access to a line of credit after exhausting other avenues of lower-cost student aid.
“We’re here to fill in any gaps in student aid,” Bauman said. “After they’ve received their federal loans, scholarships, or grants, we can walk students through the process of how to apply and what our loans are like.”
For undergraduate education, students are able to borrow up to $75,000 to cover the remaining cost of their tuition and expenses. There are no application fees, and the credit union offers fixed and variable rates. Co-signers are not required for the loan, though they can help students qualify for a lower rate.
TCU’s student loan program is unique in that students only have to apply once for the line of credit, but they draw from the funds they receive over the life of their college career.
“Each semester, the financial aid office will communicate with us and let us know that the student is still viable, is in good academic standing, and this is the amount that they will need,” Bauman said. “As long as everything checks out, the student doesn’t have to provide any more information over the four-year life of the loan. It’s very convenient for students.”
This means that at the end of their college years, students only have one line of credit from TCU to repay.
“For federal and other kinds of loans, students may have eight to ten individual loans, one from each semester. Oftentimes, we see students who are starting to repay their loans or refinance their loans, and they don’t even know who they owe,” Bauman said. “This way, the payment is made directly to TCU and it’s only one loan they are paying back.”
For more information about Teachers Credit Union's private student loans and how to apply, visit their website at https://www.tcunet.com/Borrow/Student-Loans/Undergraduate. For more information about college planning, visit https://www.tcunet.com/Plan/Investments/College-Planning.
