Obtaining a Continuing Education Loan
Continuing education is a rather unique type of education. Typically, it applies to some sort of professional position – an engineer, nurse, physical therapist, and it refers to their requirement to continually take classes to keep up to date on developments in their profession. In some cases, these classes can be rather inexpensive – a few hundred dollars each. In others, they can run into some major money, and that’s where getting a continuing education loan comes into play.
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Private Sources of Loans
There are a number of banks that offer a continuing education loan; they can be local, or nationally known institutions like Sallie Mae. Your first step is to get the class listings from the school you’re looking to attend, and then submit it to the lender. Before they give you a continuing education loan, they’re going to have to approve the program and/or school. These lenders will also limit your continuing education loan to the amount of your tuition, and you’ll be expected to starting paying it back very quickly. As most continuing education programs are very brief – sometimes nothing more than a seminar – you may have to start making payments within a month or so. If money is short for you, some lenders will allow you to make interest only payments at first, and thus save you some money.
College Sources of Loans
Depending on the profession you’re in, a local college may have a continuing education program, and also offer continuing education loans. Typically, this is only at large college and universities, but you can check with the financial aid departments of colleges near you to see if any are available. Sometimes the loans can be repaid with a government grant; this is yet another program you can look into. In the case of college continuing education loans, you can sometimes defer payments until much later.
Employers Help
Depending on your profession, your employer may help to defray the cost of continuing education. They may either contribute to your fee, pay it outright, or give you a continuing education loan. In the case of a loan, you can often set up a payment play whereby your employer simply deducts a portion of your paycheck to cover each payment.
Loans to Avoid
Often times, the cost of continuing education is quite minimal, and people are sometimes tempted to use a credit card advance as a sort of loan to pay for it. Unless the fees are very low, avoid this; the interest rates on credit cards can be quite high, and you’re better off getting a personal loan from a bank or checking on loans from the school.
Tips to Follow
No matter the source of your loan, keep in mind that it can be a legitimate business expense, and as such, the costs associated with it are tax deductible. So, any application or processing fees, the interest you pay on the loan, and so on – any costs, keep track of them for your next year’s taxes.
