How can I get a loan without a job?

How can I get a student loan with no job, no credit and without a cosigner?

• I am a returning student with no current job because I just started school full-time.

• Answer:

  Student loans don't generally need jobs and co-signers since they are designed to be paid off after you graduate and presumably have a good job (at least federal, private student loans are a bit different). Your best bet would be to look at a Federal Student loan first. Students loans come in a few different forms depending on your age and dependant status. Since you are a returning student I am guessing that you are over 24 and/or and in dependant student which means that you can take a loan out directly. As the above person stated, fill out your FAFSA (free application for student aid) application. You can do that online at: http://fafsa.org/ which is also a great source for federal student aid information. Or you can pick up the form at your schools financial aid office. It is a longer form so you will need to set aside an hour or so to make sure you have all of your tax information and everything correct. If you made more money last year than you will this year that will affect your aid for this year BUT you can fill out a change of status form stating that you do not have that job anymore and such and that will update your status. You will want to get a financial aid advisor after you receive your first offer statement from the folks at FAFSA to make sure that everything is correct and smooth (you don't want to have to pay it back early due to miss-information or anything like that). After you fill out your form you will get and award offer and if you accept it you will have to take a brief training course on loans and some other stuff. It is time consuming but not overly complicated.