Student Lending Analytics Blog

Calling All Lenders...Anyone Have A Product For International Undergrads Without A U.S. Based Cosigner?

I know that I looked at this earlier, but wondered if anything has changed in the past five months.  I still get a trickle of emails from international students looking for private loans to help finance their U.S. education.  Anyone have any new information on this front?  I think that I know the answer but just thought I would check. 

Loans For International Students Difficult To Obtain; Admissions Offers Down

BusinessWeek is reporting on a study completed by the Council of Graduate Schools, which found that graduate admissions for international students dropped in 2009, the first decline in five years. 

Here are a few comments from the CGS's press release:

“The decline in admissions of international students this year, after several years of slowing growth, is a concern for U.S. graduate education,” said Debra W. Stewart, CGS President. “For the past few years growth in first-time graduate enrollment has been driven by international students. However, the fact that so many schools reported strong growth in admissions to U.S. students this year may signal a reversal of that trend,” she added.

Long Time, No Blog...Recent Stories About Student Loans

Getting back to blogging after a brief hiatus.  Here are a few stories that seemed noteworthy:

• Sallie Mae shares rose almost 20% yesterday (Monday) to $7.93 after upbeat comments from CNBC analyst Jim Cramer and William Blair analyst, David Long.  Among other items, they cited the following as potential positive developments for the company:
  • "Meanwhile, William Blair & Co analyst David Long wrote that even if the Obama administration cut subsidies to student lenders, Sallie Mae would still likely be able to make and service loans for the Department of Education."
  • "Cramer, though, said that even if the FFELP disappeared, the government could still use the company to service loans and collect bad debts.  These are already both huge businesses for Sallie Mae, and they're the best at it, far better than the government could ever be, so they'll save the taxpayer money," Cramer said. "Reports of Sallie Mae's death are premature."
  • SLA comment:  The Department of Education should be announcing the winning bids any day now for the contract to service FFELP loans sold to the Department.  As of this morning at 10:30am ET, there was no announcement on the specific webpage dedicated to this loan servicing opportunity. 

Stanford Business School Partners With Star One Credit Union for Private Loans

I received the following notice last week from Jack Edwards, Director of Financial Aid at the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB):

"As of Friday, May 22, 2009, the Stanford GSB has secured a new custom private loan program for International and Domestic Students that does not require a US co-signer.  We will be partnering with Star One Credit Union to provide private educational loans for all GSB students.  The loan program created by Star One Credit Union features a unique line of credit structure, giving students the ability to apply once and secure financing for their complete graduate degree at the GSB. Besides providing financing for tuition and fees, the line includes low competitive interest rates, flexible repayment options, and zero origination and pre-payment fees."

International Student Loan Programs for MBA Students Posted On Clear Admit Blog

I came across this useful blog, Clear Admit, which posted this list of MBA programs with private loan programs for International Students with/without a cosigner.  It indicated that the MBA programs listed below had private programs in place for international students without a cosigner.  Please note that not all of the programs provided details on their programs.  SLA had previously posted on the Harvard, MIT, Wharton and University of Chicago programs.  Presumably, some of the programs listed below are participating in the earlier programs announced by GMAC, which is funded by Deutsche Bank. 

Here are the details provided on the Clear Admit site (which will be updated):

International Student Loan Program For MBA Students Goes Live

The Financial Times is reporting that the International Student Loan Program (ISLP) developed by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) has gone live at the University of Chicago's Booth MBA program.  This program was originally announced in February and was focused on providing loans for international students at 40 top MBA programs in the U.S. and Europe.

Here are details that appeared in the FT article: