CitiAssist is pretty good, as they have very low interest rates and a good repayment plan; it’s what I’m using this year. However, since they deal directly with the school, you can’t use part of your loan money for books, or any other cost not included in tuition.

By the way, just as a warning, several people are going to copy and paste scams into an answer. Don’t believe anyone who starts their answer with, “Hello, I am —- from this and this loan company.” Their e-mail is usually something like wewontcheatyouweswearloanco@ yahoo.com. Don’t trust anyone who doesn’t have a reputable looking web-site, and thoroughly research ANY loan company you decide to use.

Good luck!

You should fill out the FAFSA. It can be found online and is an application for federal aid. After you graduate your loans for each year are lumped together and you don’t have to start paying until after graduation. You can fill out the FAFSA as early as January but I believe the deadline for it is in July. If you were to start school in the fall of 2009 then you’d fill it out sometime between Jan 1 and summer 2009. The earlier you fill it out, the better. It can take quite awhile to fill out but it’s been worth it for me. You have to fill it out each you you plan on returning to college. So each January I’ve filled one out for the next school year that I will attend.