ISL Education Lending Review: Nonprofit Loans With Limited Benefits

3.7 _/5

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Private Student Loans

• Nonprofit lender
• Offers no-cosigner loans
• Special rates and benefits for in-state Illinois and Iowa residents

• Limited digital service
• Not available in Maine
• No rate discounts for Iowa residents

Rates (APR)	3.54% – 8.75% fixed
Loan amounts	Up to your school-certified cost of attendance
Repayment terms	10 or 15 years

Refinance Student Loans

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Rates (APR)	5.14% – 9.40% fixed
Loan amounts	$5,000 – $300,000
Repayment terms	5, 7, 10, 15, or 20 years

Iowa Student Loan Liquidity Corporation, better known as ISL Lending, is an Iowa-based nonprofit that helps students plan for and finance their college educations. However, students and parents nationwide are still welcome to apply for its loans. 

Many state-based nonprofits offer benefits for in-state students, but ISL Lending’s benefits aren’t as widespread for Iowa residents. Strangely enough, it’s Illinois students who have access to better rates and benefits.

About ISL Education Lending

ISL Education Lending offers a few loan types. It’s easy to get confused by them, so here’s the full list of its options and the main differences:

• Partnership Advance Education Loan: ISL Education Lending’s main student loan program for undergrads and grads nationwide. 
• Illinois Partnership Loan: Students who are Illinois residents and studying at an in-state institution may qualify for a slight rate reduction.
• Partnership No-Cosigner Loan: Upper-level undergrads and grads living and studying in Iowa may qualify for a loan without needing a cosigner. Illinois undergrads may also qualify for a no-cosigner student loan.
• College Family Loan: Parents nationwide can fund their children’s undergrad or grad education with this loan.
• Illinois College Family Loan: Illinois parents can qualify for lower rates on student loans if their resident kids attend an in-state school for their undergrad or grad degree.
• Reset Refinance Loan: ISL Education Lending’s primary student loan refinance program.
• Parent Reset Refinance Loan: Refinance loans for parents who took out loans for your child’s education.
• In-School Refinance: Parents or students can refinance loans while still in school, with payment still deferred until after graduation.

ISL Education Loan details

Most of ISL Education Lending’s loans offer three in-school repayment options: deferred payments, interest-only payments, or immediate full repayment. 

If you needed a cosigner to qualify, you can apply to have them removed from your loan after you meet the loan underwriting qualifications yourself, and you’ve made 24 consecutive on-time payments.

ISL Education eligibility requirements

How does ISL Education Lending compare to alternatives?

Given the number of private student loan companies competing for your business, it’s wise to shop around before settling on ISL Education Lending. Here’s how it compares to a few similar options:

• Brazos: This Texas-based nonprofit offers much lower rates than ISL, but it’s only available to Texas students and residents (and only residents, for its refinance loans).
• Credible: Credible isn’t a lender, but it will let you check student loan and refinance rates from 10+ lenders with one easy form, rather than having to check your rates with each company individually. 
• Earnest: Most lenders give you a choice of a few term length options, but Earnest offers 180 choices. That’s especially helpful when you’re refinancing, because you can choose the exact term length to dial your monthly payment in the sweet spot you can afford.

View our full lists of the best private student loans and best refinance lenders.

What do ISL customers say?

There aren’t a ton of customer reviews online for ISL Education Lending, and when you do find them, people are often discussing its scholarships, not its student loans. 

However, customer reviews over the past couple of years that do talk about its student loans frequently mention that it’s not a very technologically modern lender, with several annoying glitches and limitations that make it harder to get and repay an ISL student loan. 

How to apply for an ISL Education loan

Take these steps to apply for a student loan with ISL:

1. Prequalify: Complete a simple form on ISL Education Lending’s website to see what rates you might be eligible for without undergoing a hard credit check (yet).
2. Check with other lenders: This step is optional, but we recommend it to ensure you’re getting the best rates possible. 
3. Complete an application: ISL will reach out if it needs additional information or documents. 
4. Receive a decision: If you’re approved, the funds will be disbursed to your school.

How we rated ISL Education Lending student loans

We designed LendEDU’s editorial rating system to help readers find companies that offer the best student loans. Our system awards higher ratings to companies with affordable solutions, positive customer reviews, and online transparency of benefits and terms.

We compared ISL Education Lending to several student loan lenders, using hundreds of data points from company websites, public disclosures, customer reviews, and direct communication with company representatives. We weighted, scored, and combined each factor to produce a final editorial rating. This rating is expressed on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest possible score. Our take is represented in our rating, recapped below.