The lower the interest rate you can obtain on your student loan will mean the less your total education will cost you. An interest rate of just a few percent less means thousands of dollars you won’t have to pay back when the time comes, ultimately lowering the costs you will need to finance your education altogether.Normally student loans will carry the lowest interest rates of any loan you can get for your needs. Then there are other options to consider such as the Federal Perkins Loans, Federal Subsidized Stafford or Direct Loans, Federal Unsubsidized Stafford or Direct Loans and there are many alternative loans and getting a private loan is always an option. You should know at this point whether or not your parents will be getting a loan to help with your expenses. If not don’t let this stop you from getting the education you have dreamed of. Just simply look for alternative financing methods to assist you with your quest.Many programs are offered through special loan sources such as the Air Force Aid Society. They offer loans that are comparable to the others mentioned above and time should be spent researching this and other alternative loan sources by students who are looking to finance their education. Another good place worth looking into is the College Board’s online scholarship search.Before getting any type of loan, you should check to see if the college you want to attend to see if they offer their own loan program whether for parents or for the students themselves. Sometimes these are the best loan programs for you and are tailored to meet your needs at that particular school. Start by asking if such a program exists in your school’s financial aid office. You will also find many other helpful tools for financing your higher education while at your university’s financial aid office, so make sure you spend some time researching your options while you are there.Be sure to only borrow the amount you actually need to fund your college education to keep you from falling into the same loan trap so many others have fallen into. When you borrow more than you need, often times the money is wasted, leaving you further in debt than you have to be and causing you much more money in interest than it would have if you would have only borrowed the minimum. Just because you have an award letter stating how much you can borrow does not mean that you must take the full amount.