Parent Loans for College
Support your child’s future with a parent loan that includes no application, origination, or prepayment fees – all offered with our award-winning customer service.
Named a Best of Award Winner by NerdWallet in 2024!
Paving their way to a brighter future.
Let’s remove the obstacles around helping your child pay for college. ELFI provides parent loans with flexible payment terms of 5, 7 and 10 years and no penalties for paying them off early. Rest easy knowing you’ve secured a low-interest rate and chosen a repayment plan that’s tailored to fit your lifestyle. Work with a team who deeply cares about education. Beyond those we empower through our student loans and refinancing, we are honored to give back to our community through financial literacy programs and academic scholarships that have impacted over 20,000 students.
Applying Is Simple
Our parent loan process is quick, transparent and straightforward. Best of all, every applicant receives their own Student Loan Advisor who will provide guidance every step of the way. What are you waiting for? See your potential savings with a no-risk prequalification.
With ELFI, You Won’t Pay:
• Application fees
• Origination fees
• Prepayment penalties
Prequalification does not affect your credit score.
PREQUALIFICATION
See personalized rates in minutes.
APPLY
Explore options and select a plan with the best rates and terms to fit your needs.
UPLOAD & SIGN
Upload screenshots or smartphone photos of your documents. Then sign your paperwork electronically!
Affordable Rates & Flexible Terms for Student Loans*
We have no application fees, no loan origination fees and no penalty for paying off your loan early.
Loan Amounts From
$1,000
Rates From
Variable
6.00% APR*
Fixed
3.69% APR*
Terms From
5 – 10 years
* The interest rate and monthly payment for variable rate loans may increase after closing. Your actual interest rate may be different from the rates shown above and will be based on the term of your loan, your financial history, and other factors, including your cosigner’s (if any) financial history. For example, a 10 year loan with a fixed rate of 6% would have 120 payments of $11.00 per $1,000 borrowed. Education Loan Finance Parent Loans are limited to a maximum of the 10-year term.
Private Student Loan Repayment Options
- Loan term starts upon disbursement of funds to the school.
- Make principal and interest payments while attending school.
- Full payment of interest and principal will begin 30 to 60 days following disbursement.
- Make interest payments on the loan while attending school.
- Continue interest payments during the six month grace period.
- Full payment of interest and principal will begin 30 to 60 days upon completion of the grace period.
- Make $25 payments while attending school.
- Continue $25 payments during the six month grace period.
- Full payment of interest and principal will begin 30 to 60 days upon completion of the grace period
- Student loans while in school require no payments on the loan.
- No payments are required during the six month grace period.
- Full payment of interest and principal will begin 30 to 60 days upon completion of the grace period.
Are We A Match?
- The student must be enrolled at least half-time in a Bachelor’s, Master’s or Doctoral degree program.
- Borrowers and cosigners must be U.S. citizens or permanent resident aliens without conditions and with proper evidence of eligibility.
- Borrower (or cosigner) must have a minimum credit score of 680.
Qualifying Dependent Requirements
Borrower must be the mother or father; stepmother or stepfather; the adoptive mother or adoptive father; the foster mother or foster father; the grandmother or grandfather; the brother or sister; the half-brother or half-sister; the stepbrother or stepsister; or the aunt or uncle of the dependent student for whom the loan proceeds shall be used exclusively for such dependent student’s post-secondary education expenses. In addition, all four of the following statements must be true:
- The dependent student (including prospective students) shared a “principal place of abode” with Borrower for more than one-half of the taxable year; and
- The dependent student is younger than Borrower and (a) has not turned 19 before the end of the calendar year in which the loan is made, or (b) is a student that has not turned 24 in the same time period; and
- The dependent student has not provided more than half of his/her own support during the calendar year in which the loan is made; and
- Unless the dependent student is adopted, the dependent student is a citizen of the U.S., national of the U.S., resident of the U.S., or resident of a country contiguous to the U.S.
Borrowing Details
The minimum amount required per loan is $1,000. The maximum loan size will be the amount approved by the school for qualified education expenses for the requested academic period. Loans cannot fund more than one academic year of school-certified costs. Additional terms and conditions apply.
Get More Eligibility Details Here
FAQs
There are no application, origination, or prepayment fees.
ELFI does not require you to do anything extra to get the best rate we can offer. All borrowers are required to make payments with an electronic or digital transfer. Therefore the auto pay discount is already reflected in your approved interest rate.
To speed up your private student loan application, you will need to have the following documents:
If applying with or without a cosigner
- Paystubs documenting the last 30 days of payment (if employed)
- Government-issued Identification
Your cosigner should also provide
- Paystubs documenting the last 30 days of payment (if employed)
- Government-issued Identification
Potentially, some additional documents may be required depending on the source of your income or your cosigner’s income. Your ELFI Student Loan Advisor will contact you with details should this be the case.
Immediate
- Loan term starts upon disbursement of funds to the school.
- Make principal and interest payments while attending school.
- Full payment of interest and principal will begin 30 to 60 days following disbursement.
Interest Only
- Make interest-only payments on the loan while attending school.
- Continue interest-only payments during the six month grace period.
- Full payment of interest and principal will begin 30 to 60 days upon completion of the grace period.
Fixed
- Make $25 payments while attending school.
- Continue $25 payments during the six month grace period.
- Full payment of interest and principal will begin 30 to 60 days upon completion of the grace period.
Deferred
- While attending school, no payments are required on the loan.
- No payments are required during the six month grace period.
- Full payment of interest and principal will begin 30 to 60 days upon completion of the grace period.
If you are unable to repay the loan because of financial hardship or medical difficulty, Education Loan Finance may grant forbearance for up to 12 months. Forbearance is at the discretion of Education Loan Finance.