a couple of days to get approved..

Thats a broad question it depends. A Stafford loan is started by completing the FAFSA so you have to factor in the FAFSA time. That can take any where from 4-6 weeks to process. Then you have to factor in when your school sends you the award letter to you that shows you how much you are eligible for on a Stafford loan. If your school is in the FFE Loan Program then you have to pick a lender so you may want to factor in research time to pick a lender. That time will depend on you. Once you have selected a lender if the lender is set up to process electronically with the school it wont take long at all. I can be done as quickly as 24 hours assuming you complete the application correctly and the school certifies the loan as soon as you finish the application. Some school may wait during a certain time of the year to send certification to the lender but after if the school works with the lender electronically then it does not take more the 24 hours to a couple of days to have the loan ready to disbursed to the school. The school may also to elect a certain day they want to receive funds from the lender. Also per Fed regulations freshman loans have to wait a period of 30 days before the money is sent to the school. This shouldn’t stop you from attending school but any refunds to you may have to wait until those 30 days. Let me know if you other questions about other educational loans but I figured on your question you meant the Stafford loan.