9 Student Loans for Nurses: Federal & Private

If you’ve always wanted to help sick patients, you’ll first want to look for the best student loans for nurses. You have two main options: federal or private.

Federal loans are generally considered the best way to pay for nursing school or any form of higher education, but if you run into roadblocks or can’t get enough money, private lending comes in. Here’s a look at some of your best options for student loans for nurses.

Lender	Best for	LendEDU rating
Dept. of Education	Federal student loans	Not rated
College Ave	Private student loans	5/5
Sallie Mae	Cosigners	4.8/5
Earnest	Large loans	4.7/5
SoFi	Member benefits	4.7/5
ELFI	Student loan advisors	4.5/5

Federal student loans for nurses

When borrowing money for a degree, the first type of student loan you should consider is a federal student loan. Federal loans tend to have low interest rates and other perks, such as income-driven repayment options, long deferment periods, and loan forgiveness programs.

You must fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to qualify for federal student loans. The FAFSA will tell you what kind of federal loans you’re eligible for. You may also qualify for grants, scholarships, and work-study.

The three types of federal student loans you might qualify for are Direct Subsidized, Direct Unsubsidized, and PLUS Loans. Here’s which type of borrower each is available for:

Borrower	Federal loan options
Undergraduate students	Direct Subsidized Loans, Direct Unsubsidized Loans
Graduate students	Direct Unsubsidized Loans, Grad PLUS Loans
Parents of undergraduates	Parent PLUS Loans

For instance, there are direct unsubsidized loans and direct subsidized loans. Most students are eligible for Direct Unsubsidized Loans, which are only available to undergraduate students with financial need. They start accruing interest right away. Direct Subsidized Loans, however, don’t charge interest while you’re in school.

Most graduate nursing students are also eligible for Grad PLUS Loans. These loans have higher interest rates and fees than Direct Subsidized or Unsubsidized loans. Parents of undergraduate (but not graduate) nursing students can also apply for Parent PLUS Loans to help their children cover education expenses.

Best private student loans for nurses

If federal loans aren’t enough to cover your education expenses, you probably should turn to private lenders. But first, make sure you have exhausted your federal loan options. Private student loans almost always are going to have higher interest rates.

Also worth keeping in mind as you research: interest rates are not all the same for all federal loans, and grad PLUS loans have higher rates than federal loans for graduate students and come with a loan fee.

While federal loans are the better option over private loans for undergrads, private lenders may occasionally offer better terms for grad students than the federal government.

College Ave

Best overall

5.0 _/5

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Why it’s one of the best

College Ave is an online lender that provides student loans to students and parents. The lender offers multiple loans you can use for medical degrees, whether you’re going into nursing or something else, including its standard graduate student loan, medical school loan, and health professions student loan.

Its health professions student loan lets you borrow up to your school’s cost of attendance and choose repayment terms from five to 20 years. This loan doesn’t charge origination fees and has a nine-month grace period. You can defer payments for up to 48 months in fellowship or residency.

To qualify for a College Ave student loan, you must meet the lender’s credit and income requirements or apply with a cosigner who does. International students who apply with a U.S. cosigner are eligible for a loan.

Choose from 5 repayment terms
Defer payment while you’re in school
Apply in just 3 minutes

Loan details

Rates (APR)	3.87% – 14.47%
Loan amounts	$1,000 – cost of attendance
Repayment terms	5, 8, 10, or 15 years

Sallie Mae

Best for cosigners

4.8 _/5

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Why it’s one of the best

Sallie Mae offers many types of student loans, including the Sallie Mae Graduate School Loan for Health Professions. The loan can cover all your school-certified expenses and offers a lengthy deferment period of 48 months during an internship or fellowship, in increments of 12 months.

You can borrow as much as you need to pay for school and will pay back your loan over 15 years. Sallie Mae also offers a rate discount of 0.25% for autopsy.

Sallie Mae doesn’t charge origination fees on its student loans and offers a six-month grace period. It has loan options for full-time and part-time students. If you apply with a cosigner, you may qualify for cosigner release after 12 months of on-time loan payments.

Shortest cosigner release period available
48-month deferment during your internship and fellowship
Available for less than half-time enrollment

Loan details

Rates (APR)	4.15% – 14.97%
Loan amounts	$1,000 – cost of attendance
Repayment terms	15 years

Earnest

Best for large loans

4.7 _/5

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Why it’s one of the best

Earnest offers loans for students pursuing medical careers, including nursing. You get a grace period of nine months after leaving school before you need to make payments.
Repayment terms range from five to 15 years, but Earnest lets you choose your term down to the month to find a monthly payment that works for your budget. You can also skip a payment once per year, though your skipped payment will be counted against your total 12-month forbearance allowance that is allowed over the life of the loan—and you’ll make those payments eventually before the loan ends. So skip payments sparingly.

You can borrow up to your school’s cost of attendance from Earnest, and your loan will come with a grace period of nine months. Earnest doesn’t apply origination or late payment fees on its nurse student loans.

Skip a payment once per year if needed
No fees
Check your rate without affecting your credit

Loan details

Rates (APR)	4.17% – 16.85%
Loan amounts	$1,000 – cost of attendance
Repayment terms	5, 7, 10, 12, or 15 years

SoFi

Best for member benefits

4.7 _/5

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Why it’s one of the best

SoFi’s health professions loans are available to graduate nursing students and other graduate medical students. No fees, including origination and late fees, are required, and repayment terms range from five to 15 years.

You can borrow up to your school’s cost of attendance and defer payments for nine months after you graduate. SoFi also offers borrowers a range of member benefits, including financial advising and member experiences.

No fees
Check your rate without affecting your credit

Loan details

Rates (APR)	4.74% – 15.86%
Loan amounts	$1,000 – cost of attendance
Repayment terms	5, 7, 10, or 15 years

ELFI

Best for student loan advisors

4.5 _/5

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Why it’s one of the best

ELFI graduate school loans are available to nursing and graduate students. Borrowers are assigned a student loan advisor to assist throughout the application process, and you can get a rate discount of 0.25% for making automatic payments.

You can borrow up to 100% of your certified costs and choose repayment terms of five, seven, 10, or 15 years. ELFI offers a six-month grace period. You can prequalify for an ELFI student loan on the lender’s website.

Personalized service with a dedicated student loan advisor for each applicant
Competitive rates with no origination, application, or prepayment fees
Flexible repayment terms ranging from five to 15 years
Option to prequalify without affecting your credit score
Available for undergraduate, graduate, and parent loans
Offers forbearance for up to 12 months for financial hardship or medical difficulty

Loan details

Rates (APR)	4.50% – 14.22%
Loan amounts	$1,000 – cost of attendance
Repayment terms	5, 7, 10, or 15 years

Health professions student loans for nurses

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is another potential source of loans for nursing students. The HRSA partners with schools to offer loans to students pursuing careers in medicine, including nursing.

It pays for up to 85% of unpaid nursing education debt. Over the course of two years, you’ll receive 60% of your total outstanding qualifying nursing education loans.

After your two-year service contract, you may be eligible for a third year and an additional 25% of your nursing student loans.

Because the HRSA partners with schools to offer loans, you can work with your school to confirm eligibility and apply. Student loans are available for those pursuing associate, undergraduate, or graduate degrees.

How are student loans for nurses unique?

Despite what private lenders may suggest, generally, student loans for nursing aren’t particularly different from any other student loans in higher education. Some private lenders market specifically to nurses, but the loan terms won’t differ greatly from what other students will get.

For instance, whether federal or private or for an aspiring nurse or a poet, most student loans allow you to defer paying for your loans during school and after graduation (six months is typical) before repayment begins.

As a future nurse, your best bet is to start with federal student loans, which typically offer better rates and terms than private lenders. (Meanwhile, don’t forget to look for scholarships and grants, since that money could fund your education that you won’t have to pay back. If you work for an employer, your company may offer an employer tuition reimbursement program.)

Private lenders can save the day when it comes to paying for nursing school, and sometimes, the rates are less compared to federal loans for graduate school. Still, private loans for nurses should only be used to fill in the financial holes that you aren’t already able to with federal loans, grants, and scholarships.

What type of student loans should I take out for my nursing education?

If you’re going to go to nursing school or study at any college and you’re looking for student loans, you typically have two choices: federal loans or private loans.

You’ll want first to look and see what federal student loans you are eligible for.

Here are some reasons why federal student loans are more attractive than private loans:

They generally offer better interest rates and terms than private lenders.
No credit history is needed. (You must fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, to apply.)
Cosigners aren’t needed.
They only have fixed interest rates.
Depending on the loan, interest might not start accruing until after college.

But for all the good things about federal student loans, they have borrowing limits, and once you’ve received a response from FAFSA, you may find that the government will lend you most of what you need to pay for your education but not all.

If that’s the case, start checking out private lenders.

There are many good private lenders out there, many of which market themselves to nursing students. Generally, what they offer isn’t different from what any other student will get, but it’s never a bad thing if a lender understands the type of profession you’re studying to become.

Federal student loans are the best way to fund your education, but if you need private student loans, here are some of their selling points:

Sometimes, private loans will have a cheaper interest rate than a graduate student loan.
Private student loans come with fixed and variable rates. You may like having a choice, but fixed rates are the safer way to borrow money. When interest rates are variable, they can go super low but also super high, in which case, you will pay more on your student loans.
Private student lenders often have high borrowing limits, which may mean you can go to the college you want, not the college you can afford without loans.
As long as you have good credit, if you aren’t eligible for federal loans, you’ll probably find that you can get private loans.
Some private student loan interest may be tax deductible.
Typically, you’ll get a yes or no pretty quickly on whether you’re approved for your loans.

There are a couple of national loan programs that you may want to look into since they provide loan forgiveness for nurses:

The Nurse Corps Loan Repayment Program. There’s an application process (it isn’t open year-round), and it can take weeks or months to prepare the application. You may get up to 85% of your student loans paid off if you agree to work in an underserved community for two years.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. If you work for the government or a nonprofit full time and make 120 loan payments (no small thing; that’s 10 years), the rest will be forgiven.

How to choose a student loan lender

You’ll want to choose any student loan lender carefully. After all, you’ll be working with this company and its loan terms for a long time.

In general, assuming you’ve already looked for scholarships and grants, there are three main steps to choosing a student loan lender.

Look at federal student loans first. Federal student loans always offer better, fixed interest rates (definitely for undergraduate loans; private lenders may be a little competitive for graduate school loans). There are also more chances for loan forgiveness with federal loans.
Consider private loans. Compare offerings from multiple lenders, including banks, credit unions and online platforms. Look carefully at fees, interest rates and the length of repayment, along with possibilities for payment deferment or forbearance if you struggle to make payments.
Apply. Again, apply for the federal loans first. After you see what you can get from the federal government, private loans can make up the rest.

How much should you borrow in student loans?

Crystal Rau

CFP®

A good rule of thumb is not to borrow more than your annual salary after additional education. For example, if you plan to return to school to become a nurse practitioner and anticipate your new salary to be a certain amount, ensure the total amount borrowed (both existing and new loans) will not exceed that anticipated new salary. And be careful not to overestimate either!

How to get loans for nurses

Applying for student loans for nursing school isn’t complicated. Here’s how to get funding:

Fill out the FAFSA. The first step to getting federal student loans is to complete the FAFSA and submit it by the school’s deadline. The FAFSA is necessary to qualify for all types of federal student loans. If you have trouble filling it out, you can get help online through FAFSA; anecdotally, some small colleges will help you fill out the FAFSA for free, especially if you plan on attending.
Review your award letter. Once you’ve submitted the FAFSA, the school’s financial aid department will review the results and determine your eligibility. You’ll get your results in an award letter showing the total amount you qualify for.
Determine whether you need more aid. If you still need more financial aid, you can apply for a private student loan.
Choose a private student loan. Private student loan companies vary. Compare interest rates, repayment terms, in-school repayment options, and fees. Be sure to consider the benefits and downsides of choosing a private rather than a federal loan, but again, sometimes you don’t have a choice or may need to use both.

FAQ

Which nursing school loan is the best?

Picking a nursing school loan depends on what you qualify for as well as your comfort zone in paying it back. You may be able to get good rates but feel the monthly payment is too high.

So, the best nursing school loan is the one you’re most comfortable with, and you can only know if you’re a good fit for a loan if you look at a lot and compare them to each other.

Still, as a general rule of thumb: If you’re eligible for federal student loans, that’s what you should take. They’re going to provide the best student loans for nurses (or anyone), offering more repayment options, loan forgiveness plans, longer forbearance periods, and potentially lower interest rates.

However, a private student loan may be your only option if you don’t qualify for federal loans.

Do I need a cosigner for nursing school loans?

If you’re taking out a federal student loan, you won’t need a cosigner in most cases.

If you’re taking out a Grad PLUS loan and have an adverse event on your credit report, you may need to add an endorser, which is essentially a cosigner. It’s a term often used with federal student loans; the endorser agrees to pay the loan if the primary borrower can’t.

Many private loans require a cosigner unless you have good credit and a steady income.

Do nursing school loans cover living expenses?

Nursing school loans may cover the attendance cost, including living expenses. However, if your living expenses exceed the school’s stated average, you’ll have to find another way to cover the cost.

How much can I borrow with nursing student loans?

The amount you can borrow depends on the type of loan. Most graduate loans will let you borrow up to the annual cost of attendance, but some undergraduate loans have lower limits.

When does repayment on nursing school loans start?

Repayment varies depending on the type of loan you have. If you have federal student loans, repayment will begin six months after you graduate, leave school, or drop below part-time status.

If you have private student loans, repayment will vary depending on your lender’s policy. Generally, private lenders’ grace periods range from six to nine months.

Do any other programs help pay for nursing school?

Nursing school students may qualify for grants and scholarships. You may also be eligible for loan forgiveness programs, such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).

The federal government also offers loan repayment programs, in which nurses can work in an underserved community for a certain number of years in exchange for having some of their loans forgiven.

If you want the best student loans for nurses, always focus on getting federal loans first and then searching for nonprofit nursing programs to qualify for PSLF before turning to private student loans.

How we chose the best student loans for nurses

LendEDU evaluates student loan lenders to help readers find the best student loans. Our latest analysis reviewed 725 data points from 25 lenders and financial institutions, with 29 data points collected from each. This information is gathered from company websites, online applications, public disclosures, customer reviews, and direct communication with company representatives.

These star ratings help us determine which companies are best for different situations. We don’t believe two companies can be the best for the same purpose, so we only show each best-for designation once.

Recap of the best student loans for nurses

Lender	Best for	LendEDU rating
Dept. of Education	Federal student loans	Not rated
College Ave	Private student loans	5/5
Sallie Mae	Cosigners	4.8/5
Earnest	Large loans	4.7/5
SoFi	Member benefits	4.7/5
ELFI	Student loan advisors	4.5/5