Despite Credit Crisis, Most Students Have Found Loans

"Everyone's worried about it," said Stewart Carlson, a sophomore at GWU; her family was able to afford tuition, but she saw friends stressing about loans and turning down private schools for cheaper in-state universities at home in Seattle.

At Trinity Washington University, where many students come from families in the District who don't have a lot of money, administrators have been worried, particularly for students with weak credit histories. At Northern Virginia Community College, two of the five lenders the school had been recommending dropped out. But officials at both schools said students were receiving the loans they needed. In fact, at Northern Virginia, the school will have 5 percent more students this fall, and the volume of loans is expected to double over last year.

It has been significantly worse for career colleges, where many of the students are working adults with low incomes and without parents or others to co-sign a loan, said Bob Cohen, senior vice president at the Career College Association.

The federal intervention has helped, he said. And some career schools began loaning money themselves.

For those who don't have credit or help from relatives, who are now more likely to get turned down, the options are more confusing and less appealing, including private loans that pile on costs.

"A lot of students are ending up going with loan providers that have extremely high interest rates because they don't mind taking on people that are a higher risk," said Carmen Berkley, president of the United States Student Association.

To get federal aid, students need to fill out an exhaustive form that some families never get through.

Despite the last-minute uncertainty, a Sallie Mae-Gallup survey last week found that two-thirds of polled students with loans would have found a way to pay for school even if they hadn't received the aid.

Last year, Sophie DeMartine wasn't worried about the cost of college and picked the school with the international affairs program she wanted, turning down full scholarships at state schools at home in Florida. This year, after her father's business slowed because of the economy, she wasn't sure she would be able to come back to George Washington University.

"It looked iffy there, for a while," she said.

But she got enough financial aid to swing it, and even, in the end, avoided having to take out loans.

Her roommate last year was really worried that her loans wouldn't come through and she wouldn't be able to pay tuition, DeMartine added as she waited to help freshmen move in. "But she's here, too. I just saw her!"