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finder.com’s rating: 4.4 / 5.0
★★★★★
3.64% to 5.64%
APR
$150,000
Max. Loan Amount
680
Min. Credit Score
Product Name | RISLA College Loan |
---|---|
Minimum Loan Amount | $1,500 |
Max. Loan Amount | $150,000 |
APR | 3.64% to 5.64% |
Interest Rate Type | Fixed |
Minimum Loan Term | 10 years |
Maximum Loan Term | 15 years |
Requirements | Must be a Rhode Island resident, be enrolled at least half-time, and have at least one month of personal expenses saved. Borrower or cosigner must make at least $40,000 annually, and be employed at least six months with a minimum credit score of 680. |
Review by
Anna Serio is a trusted lending expert and certified Commercial Loan Officer who's published more than 1,000 articles on Finder to help Americans strengthen their financial literacy. A former editor of a newspaper in Beirut, Anna writes about personal, student, business and car loans. Today, digital publications like Business Insider, CNBC and the Simple Dollar feature her professional commentary, and she earned an Expert Contributor in Finance badge from review site Best Company in 2020.
Live or go to school in the Ocean State? This nonprofit student loan provider could help you pay your way through your degree. It’s one of the closest things you can get to federal loans: It offers competitive rates, income-based repayments and even some forgiveness programs. In fact, it might be a less-expensive option if you’re only eligible for Direct PLUS Loans.
However, loan amounts cap out at only $40,000 per year, which might not be enough if you’re attending an expensive private school. While you might not be able to cover all of your educational costs, it’s definitely worth a look if you’ve maxed out your federal funding.
Still on the fence? Take a look at our list of other lenders that might be a better fit for you.
To qualify for financing from the Rhode Island Student Loan Authority (RISLA), you or your cosigner must:
You don’t need to be a matriculating student, meaning that you don’t need to be pursuing a degree to qualify.
RISLA is a a nonprofit direct lender that offers fixed-rate student loans for both undergraduates, graduate students and parents. Since it’s a nonprofit, RISLA is able to offer rates that compare to what you’d find on federal student loans. It has a smaller range of rates than most private lenders and offers two choices of loan terms: 10 to 15 years, depending on if you start making immediate repayments or if you defer your loan until you leave school.
Applying online is simple and you’ll find out if you’ve been pre-approved almost immediately. Its application is renewable, so you can easily apply for next year’s funding without having to go through the whole process again.
RISLA doesn’t charge fees for applying, so the APR and interest rates are the same. Its undergraduate and graduate student loans come with rates ranging from 3.64% to 5.64% with a 0.25% autopay discount. Its parent loans come with a 5.49% interest rate with the autopay discount.
RISLA charges a $10 returned check fee if your payment doesn’t go through. If you’re late, you’ll also have to pay a fee of 6% of the amount due. There are no fees for paying off your loan early, but you must make a minimum monthly repayment of at least $50.
Yes, there are. In fact, discounts are one of its main draws. On top of RISLA’s 0.25% autopay discount, RISLA offers further discounts for qualified nurses and interns.
Through this program, qualified borrowers pay 0% interest on their first 48 repayments, lowering the total cost of their loan. To qualify for this program, you must be a licensed registered nurse who works at least 20 hours a week at a healthcare facility in Rhode Island. Your loans must be issued after June 30, 2011.
Students can get up to $2,000 of their loans forgiven if they complete an eligible internship program within a year of graduating. It doesn’t necessarily have to be located in Rhode Island and can be paid or unpaid. However, you’ll need to graduate to be eligible — internships you complete as part of your degree requirements are ineligible.
Physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants working in Rhode Island can sign up for this repayment program to get up to 50% of their student debt forgiven. Qualifying physicians can get up to $20,000 of debt forgiven each year for up to four years, while nurse practitioners and physician assistants can get up to $40,000 of their student debt wiped clean.
You must work at least 32 hours a week in family medicine, internal medicine or pediatrics to be eligible. This applies to all student debt, not just RISLA.
RISLA offers three standard repayment options: Immediate repayment, deferred repayment and income-based repayment (IBR).
Undergraduates, graduate students and parents have the option of starting repayments 15 days after their funds are disbursed. Immediate repayment comes with a shorter loan term of 10 years and tends to have lower rates.
Under the immediate repayment plan, undergraduates pay an estimated $105 a month per $10,000 borrowed. Graduate students pay around $106 and parents around $110 per $10,000. This is the only repayment option for parent loans.
Undergraduate and graduate students can also choose to hold off on repayments until six months after they graduate. To qualify for a six-month grace period, you can’t spend more than 72 months in school after taking out your RISLA loan for undergraduates — 36 months for graduates. You can opt to make interest-only payments to keep your loan costs down while you’re still in school.
If you opt for deferred repayments, you’ll have up to 15 years to pay off your loan, but you won’t be able to qualify for the lowest interest rates. Undergraduates can expect to make monthly repayments of between $101 and $112 per $10,000 they borrowed. Graduate students can expect monthly payments of around $103 per $10,000.
If you can prove you’re experiencing financial hardship, you might qualify for repayments based on your income. Under this plan, you won’t pay more than 15% of your income after taxes or what you would have paid under the standard repayment plan. And if your loan isn’t paid off in 25 years, RISLA will forgive your debt. The minimum monthly payment also decreases from $50 to $10 under IBR.
Signing up for IBR is cheaper, but it’s more of a hassle. You and your cosigner have to prove you qualify for IBR with documentation each year. You’ll also have to pay taxes on any loan forgiveness you receive.
RISLA gets mostly positive reviews. Top points of praise: RISLA’s customer service, its rates and how simple it was to apply.
One applicant wished there had been more back and forth with RISLA. Another was upset with how long it took for his son’s loan to be processed — it turns out RISLA isn’t totally digital with every school and paper-based underwriting can seriously slow things down.
Applications for the 2018/2019 academic year are available starting May 1, 2018.
Before you apply, make sure you meet RISLA’s eligibility requirements. Your application might also go faster if you have the following documents on hand:
RISLA might ask for additional documentation, depending on your application and personal finances.
If you’re applying with a cosigner, you can either have them fill out the application along with you or give them a code to fill out a separate application that RISLA attaches to yours.
Not only is RISLA a nonprofit, it’s a semi-public organization, meaning that it works with the state but doesn’t get taxpayer funding. It’s provided Rhode Island students and residents with education loans since 1981.
On top of funding school, RISLA has several resources that could be useful to Rhode Island students and parents, including an internship-matching program through bRIdge.jobs and financial literacy guides.
Check out our student loans guide to learn more about how student loans work and compare private student loan providers.
Learn more about RISLA with these answers to common questions.
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We rate student loan providers on a scale of 1 to 5 stars based on factors like transparency, costs and customer experience. We don’t take into account elements like eligibility criteria, state availability or payment frequency — we save that for our reviews.