NSE5_FAZ-7.0 student - Fortinet NSE 5 - FortiAnalyzer 7.0 Updated: 2023

The 2023 academic year is upon us, and while many college students have already commenced their classes, some may still be searching for the funds needed to cover the current or upcoming academic terms. For many students, the costs of college encompass not only tuition but also expenses for books, transportation, and housing – all of which can accumulate swiftly.

If you're seeking ways to finance your education during these academic terms, a good starting point is to explore the various grants, scholarships, and federal student loans available to you. Federal student loans often prove to be the optimal choice when borrowing money for your educational pursuits due to their unique borrower benefits.

However, when you've exhausted these options, you might find it necessary to turn to private loans to bridge any financial gaps. Private student loans may not offer the same safeguards as federal loans, but they can still be a viable option when it comes to covering some or all of your educational expenses. Additionally, private student loans offer their own advantages, such as higher loan limits, flexible terms, and quick approval processes – making them a wise choice in certain circumstances. To assist you in your pursuit, here are the top private student loans available for the 2023 academic year.

Start exploring your student loan options here now to see what you're eligible to receive.

Best private student loans for fall 2023

Here are some of the best private student loans currently available, broken down into six categories:

Best overall: College Ave

College Ave gets our nod for the best private student loan because this lender check all the boxes. They provide loan amounts that vary from as low as $1,000 to the total cost of your entire school-certified expenses like tuition, fees and housing. Student loans rates are competitive, at 4.59% to 16.99% for fixed undergraduate loans and 4.59% to 14.49% for fixed-rate graduate loans. Variable rate loans range from 5.49% to 16.99% for undergraduate loans and 5.49% to 14.49% for graduate loans.

With an undergraduate or graduate student loan from College Ave, you have numerous in-school repayment options, including paying interest-only or a flat $25 monthly. Keep in mind, while in-school payments aren't mandatory, your loans will still accumulate interest during that time. By making even small payments while in school, you can manage the accruing interest and prevent your loan balance from growing excessively.

Repayment terms are for five, eight, 10 or 15 years. When choosing a repayment term, remember that shorter-term loans generally come with higher monthly payments than longer-term loans.

Learn more here.

Best for low rates: Earnest

Earnest provides low interest rates with an APR of 4.45% if you use a cosigner and 5.74% if you don't. These rates include Earnest's 0.25% auto-pay discount. This private student loan lender offers four repayment options during school: interest-only payments, full principal and interest payments, $25 monthly payments or payment deferral.

Unlike many lenders, Earnest offers several payment options, including repayment terms for five, seven, 10, 12 or 15 years. If you can afford a higher payment, it may make sense to pay off your loan with a shorter-term loan to save money on interest. Also, the minimum loan amount is only $1,000, so if you have a minimal financial gap to cover after federal financial aid, you don't need to incur more debt with a larger loan. And if you need more money, Earnest loans can cover up to 100% of school-certified costs of attendance.

Learn more now.

Best for parents: Sallie Mae

Sallie Mae is one of the largest and most well-known student loan servicers in the United States. The government sponsored the organization since its beginnings in 1972 before Sallie Mae transitioned into a private company in 2014.

Sallie Mae offers a Smart Option Student Loan, which it touts as a student loan with a cosigner. Your cosigner can be a parent, spouse, relative or any adult. Students can choose fixed or variable annual percentage rates (APRs) starting at 4.50% and 6.37%, respectively, which includes a 0.25% automatic payment discount. According to Sallie Mae, the process, from application to disbursement, takes around 10 business days or less.

Check Sallie Mae student loan rates here.

Best for no fees: Discover

More than just a credit card company, Discover also provides private student loans with several perks, including no application, origination or late fees. Discover's no-fee student loans combine with lower interest rates and cash rewards for good grades to lower the costs of borrowing for students.

Discover's student loan APRs are as low as 6.12% for variable-rate loans and 5.29% for fixed-rate loans. They allow you to borrow up to 100% of school-certified costs, such as tuition, housing and books, minus any financial aid you receive. The company's minimum borrowing amount is only $1,000 and it only offers a single repayment term of 15 years.

Learn more here.

Best for students with bad credit: Ascent

Many students have poor credit scores because they lack an established credit history. That's one reason why most private student loan companies require a cosigner to offset the lender's perceived risk. Ascent is bucking that trend by offering non-cosigned loans to undergraduate, graduate, DACA and international students.

For example, students without established credit can apply for the Non-Cosigned Outcomes-Based loan without a cosigner, and your eligibility is based on your school, program, major, GPA and other criteria. And if your credit history is shorter than two years, you don't need to meet any minimum income requirements.

Learn more here.

Best for students with good credit: SoFi

You'll likely need good credit to qualify for a private student loan with SoFi. While SoFi doesn't publish minimum credit score requirements on its website, it does evaluate your credit history and debts when reviewing your application.

If you have decent credit, SoFi's student loans offer a wide array of benefits, including flexible repayment options, no fees and career services. With the autopay discount applied, the APRs for fixed-rate loans start as low as 4.49%, while the APRs for variable-rate loans begin at 5.16%.

The bottom line

As with any loan, aim to borrow only as much as you need since paying interest on money you don't need is never wise. When comparing private student loans, understand that getting a low-interest rate is essential, but rates aren't your only consideration. Weighing several key factors, such as the borrowing amount, interest rates and repayment terms and fees, can help you identify the loan that best suits your unique financial situation.

An education loan, more commonly known as a student loan, is an amount of money borrowed from a federal or private lender to pay for a higher education. This sum can be used to cover the cost of tuition, textbooks, other school supplies, and basic living expenses so that a student may focus on earning their degree. Generally speaking, federal student loans offer lower interest rates than their private counterparts.

UAB is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer committed to fostering a diverse, equitable and family-friendly environment in which all faculty and staff can excel and achieve work/life balance irrespective of race, national origin, age, genetic or family medical history, gender, faith, gender identity and expression as well as sexual orientation. UAB also encourages applications from individuals with disabilities and veterans.

Managing student loans during college isn't something students or their parents generally want to think about. Most students probably don't plan to address their loans until after graduation. However, those who do may focus on the six-month grace period after graduation. This is the period before any payments are due.

This is a big mistake. If you borrow money for college, you'll likely accumulate multiple student loans as you earn your degree. You might have one federal loan for each year you're in school, plus private loans to cover any shortfall.

How you manage these loans while you're still in school can determine whether you experience a student loan crisis after graduation or if you stride into adult life with your loans under control and a plan to repay the balance quickly. That's why we're sharing this information about how to manage your student debt during college. Keep studying to see how much you could save by addressing your debt even before graduating.

The cost of college has more than doubled over the past four decades — and student loan borrowing has risen along with it. The student loan debt balance in the U.S. has increased by 66% over the past decade, and it now totals more than $1.77 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve. 

Here’s a closer look at student loan debt statistics in the U.S. today, broken down by age, race, gender and other demographics. 

Total student loan debt statistics

As of the first quarter of 2023, student loan debt in the U.S. stands at a total of over $1.77 trillion. More than 92% of this is federal student loan debt while the remaining amount is owed on private student loans, according to Federal Student Aid (an office of the Department of Education). 

In the 2020-2021 academic year, 54% of bachelor’s degree students who attended public and private four-year schools graduated with student loans, according to the College Board. These students left school with an average balance of $29,100 in education debt.

Average federal student loan debt

The majority of student loan debt in the U.S. is made up of federal student loans. The total federal loan portfolio is more than $1.6 trillion. This is spread amongst nearly 44 million borrowers, according to Federal Student Aid. 

Here’s how much borrowers owe by federal student loan type:

Average private student loan debt

As of the third quarter of 2022, only 7.22% of the total national student loan debt comes from private student loans, according to Enterval Analytics. These loans are issued by private institutions like banks, credit unions and online lenders. 

Students borrowed about $13 billion in private student loans during the 2021-2022 academic year. Of these students, 10% who earned a bachelor’s degree from a public four-year school graduated with $32,100 in private student loan debt. Another 13% who attended four-year private schools graduated with $42,800 in private loans. 

Unlike most federal student loans, private student loans generally have strict credit and income requirements. Because of this, most private loan borrowers apply with a co-signer. During the 2022-2023 academic year, nearly 91% of private undergraduate loans and 66% of private graduate loans had a co-signer, according to Enterval Analytics. 

The crisis of student loan debt in the U.S. 

Total student debt in the U.S. has nearly tripled in the past 15 years, from more than $619 billion in quarter one of 2008 to more than $1.77 trillion in quarter one of 2023, according to the Federal Reserve. 

With this debt rising as average wages have fallen, many borrowers struggle to repay their student loans and are unable to pursue other life goals, such as buying a home or starting a family. Delinquencies and defaults on student loans are also more common compared to other types of debt.

Additionally, as of 2021, 40.4 million student loan borrowers left school without completing a degree, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. This means that many borrowers don’t enjoy the higher earnings that a college education can bring. 

Average student loan debt by year

While there’s little data available regarding average private student loan debt per year, more than 92% of all student debt is made up of federal loans. Here’s how the average federal student loan debt increased between 1995 and 2017, based on the most latest data from the Congressional Budget Office. 

Who has student loan debt?

The amount of student loan debt borrowers owe varies based on a variety of factors. Here’s a snapshot of the average student loan debt by state, age and gender as well as by race and ethnicity: 

Average student loan debt by state

Average student loan debt ranged from $18,344 in Utah up to $39,928 in New Hampshire for the graduating class of 2020, according to the latest data from The Institute for College Access and Success. 

Here’s the average student loan debt for college graduates by state:

Average student loan debt by age

Here’s how federal student debt loads compare by age group in 2023, according to Federal Student Aid data: 

Average student loan debt by gender

The burden of student loan debt doesn’t fall equally between men and women. In general, women borrow more for their education, and they hold nearly two-thirds of the total student loan debt in the U.S., according to the American Association of University Women (AAUW). 

On average, women who earn their bachelor’s degree owe $2,700 more than men upon graduation, and they take about two years longer to pay it off. This is partly due to the gender pay gap, the unemployment crisis facing latest graduates and the growing cost of education, according to the AAUW.

Here’s how student loan debt compares between genders, further broken down by race and ethnicity:

Average student loan debt by race and ethnicity

Young adult women and Black adults are more likely to carry student loan debt compared to young adult men and young white adults, respectively, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The gender wage gap and gender discrimination as well as both the racial wage gap and racial discrimination faced by Black adults play into these amounts of debt.

Here’s the average amount owed in federal student loans four years after completing a bachelor’s degree in the 2015-2016 academic year, broken down by race and ethnicity:

Average student loan debt expected for a high school graduate

In 2023, borrowers have an average of $37,338 in federal student loan debt and $54,921 in private student loan debt, according to the Education Data Initiative. For 2023 high school graduates, these averages could increase if tuition costs continue to rise at both public and private colleges.

How long does it take to repay student loans?

The amount of time it takes to repay student loans depends on the type of loans you have and your repayment plan. According to a survey of 61,000 individuals by Research.com, student loan borrowers take an average of more than 20 years to pay off their education debt. 

If you have federal student loans, you’ll generally be placed on the standard 10-year repayment plan. However, you can switch to a different repayment plan that could extend your term. For example, you’ll have 20 or 25 years to repay your loans under an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan, after which the remainder of your balance will be forgiven. You could also opt to consolidate your federal loans, which can extend your term by up to 30 years. 

You’ll typically have five to 25 years to repay private student loans, depending on the lender. Note that private student loans don’t offer the repayment options that federal loans do — the only way to change your term on a private student loan is to refinance. 

Regardless of whether you have federal or private loans, you might be able to pay off your balance faster by making extra payments. You could also consider pursuing federal student loan forgiveness to have some or all of your federal balance canceled.

How many student loans are forgiven?

There are a variety of options for receiving federal loan forgiveness, including the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, Teacher Loan Forgiveness program and Perkins Loan cancellation. 

As of March 2023, there have been 3,139,959 PSLF applications processed, according to the Federal Student Aid. In May 2023, the Department of Education announced that more than 615,000 borrowers have had a total of $42 billion forgiven through the program. This was a result of the changes made by the Biden-Harris Administration that made it easier to qualify for this forgiveness.

How many student loans are in default?

A student loan is considered delinquent the day after a payment is missed. Here’s how many are in default, according to the type of loan:

Federal student loans

A federal student loan will generally enter default after payments have been missed for 270 days, depending on the type of loan. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, federal student interest accrual and loan payments were paused in March 2020. Eligible loans already in default also received various relief measures, such as halting interest accrual and wage garnishments. 

Here’s how many federal loans were in default in the five years before this administrative forbearance, according to Federal Student Aid:

Private student loans

Private student loans usually enter default after 90 days, depending on the lender. As of the third quarter of 2022, 3% of private loans were 30 to 89 days past due, and 1.58% were 90 or more days past due, according to Enterval Analytics.

How to take control of student loan debt

If you’re one of the nearly 44 million Americans with student loans, here are some strategies that might help you better manage your loans: 

Pursue federal student loan forgiveness

Several forgiveness programs are available for federal student loan borrowers. For example, if you work full time for a government or nonprofit organization for at least 10 years and make 120 qualifying payments, you might qualify for PSLF. Or if you’re a highly-qualified teacher, you could have $5,000 or $17,500 forgiven (depending on what you teach) after working full time for five consecutive years at a low-income school.

Many states also offer student loan repayment assistance programs to qualifying professionals. To qualify for one of these programs, you’ll typically have to work in a particular career field (such as in healthcare or law) and agree to serve in a certain area for a specified amount of time.

Sign up for an income-driven repayment plan

Most federal student loan borrowers are eligible for at least one of the four IDR plans, which can help to make payments more affordable. 

“If you are experiencing long-term financial difficulty, such as you have a job but it doesn’t pay enough to make student loan repayment affordable, and you have no prospects for increasing income, [sign up for] an income-driven repayment plan or extended repayment plan,” says financial aid expert Mark Kantrowitz. “These repayment plans reduce the monthly payment by stretching out the term of the loan.”

Each of the plans extends your repayment term up to 20 or 25 years (depending on the plan) while adjusting your monthly payments to a percentage of your discretionary income. If you still owe a balance at the end of your term, it will be forgiven.

Here are the four main IDR plans to choose from: 

• Pay As You Earn (PAYE): Payments are 10% of discretionary income (never more than what you’d pay on a standard 10-year plan) with forgiveness after 20 years.
• Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE): Payments are 10% of discretionary income (no cap on amount) with forgiveness after 20 years for undergraduate loans or 25 years for graduate loans.
• Income-Based Repayment (IBR): For loans made on or after July 1, 2014, payments are 10% of discretionary income with forgiveness after 20 years. For loans made before July 1, 2014, payments are 15% of discretionary income with forgiveness after 25 years. Payments on this plan are never more than what you’d pay on a standard 10-year plan.
• Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR): Payments are 20% of discretionary income (or what you’d pay on a 12-year plan with fixed payments) with forgiveness after 25 years.

Keep in mind that while an income-driven plan can make your monthly payments more affordable, it can increase your costs of borrowing over time. This is because extending your repayment term means paying more in interest.

Ask your employer about student loan assistance

An increasing number of employers have begun offering student loan repayment assistance to their employees, such as Google and Starbucks. If you work at one of these companies, be sure to take advantage of this benefit if possible. 

If your employer doesn’t offer student loan assistance, consider meeting with your boss or human resources department to see if it could be implemented. Be prepared to provide evidence for how this type of program works at other companies and how it can benefit both you and the employer. 

Refinance your high-interest loans

Student loan refinancing is the process of paying off one or more of your current loans with a new private loan. Depending on your credit, you might be able to qualify for a lower interest rate, which could save you money on interest and potentially help you pay off your loans faster. You could also opt to extend your repayment term to reduce your payments — though remember that this means you’ll pay more in interest over time.

You can refinance both federal and private loans. However, keep in mind that refinancing federal student loans means forfeiting access to federal repayment plans, forgiveness programs and other borrower protections.

_{Ascent’s undergraduate and graduate student loans are funded by Bank of Lake Mills or DR Bank, each Member FDIC. Loan products may not be available in certain jurisdictions. Certain restrictions, limitations; and terms and conditions may apply. For Ascent Terms and Conditions please visit: www.AscentFunding.com/Ts&Cs. Rates are effective as of 11/1/2023 and reflect an automatic payment discount of either 0.25% (for credit-based loans) OR 1.00% (for undergraduate outcomes-based loans). Automatic Payment Discount is available if the borrower is enrolled in automatic payments from their personal checking account and the amount is successfully withdrawn from the authorized bank account each month. For Ascent rates and repayment examples please visit: AscentFunding.com/Rates. 1% Cash Back Graduation Reward subject to terms and conditions. Cosigned Credit-Based Loan student must meet certain minimum credit criteria. The minimum score required is subject to change and may depend on the credit score of your cosigner. Lowest APRs require interest-only payments, the shortest loan term, and a cosigner, and are only available to our most creditworthy applicants and cosigners with the highest average credit scores.}

Nov 2 (Reuters) - Cybersecurity firm Fortinet (FTNT.O) forecast fourth-quarter revenue below Wall Street estimates on Thursday, as it grapples with weak corporate spending in an uncertain economy, sending its shares down more than 16% in extended trading.

The company is also facing intense competition from companies including Palo Alto Networks (PANW.O) and CrowdStrike Holdings (CRWD.O) for a slice of the cybersecurity market.

Added to that, analysts have said large customers of cybersecurity companies are opting for short-term deals to ensure safety of their IT systems against online threats as they keep a tight leash on their spending.

Chief Financial Officer Keith Jensen said on an earnings call that Fortinet continues "to see increased deal scrutiny and longer sales cycles, which is constraining (the company's) near-term results."

"We expect these longer sales cycles to continue along with the associated budgetary scrutiny," he added.

The Sunnyvale, California-based company expects current-quarter revenue between $1.38 billion and $1.44 billion, while analysts were expecting $1.50 billion, according to LSEG data.

Fortinet also cut its full-year revenue outlook to a range of $5.27 billion to $5.33 billion, from its prior forecast of $5.35 billion to $5.45 billion.

Meanwhile, high-profile breaches at gambling giants MGM Resorts International (MGM.N), Caesars Entertainment (CZR.O) and the cleaning supplies maker Clorox (CLX.N) underlined the need for robust cyber safety solutions.

Fortinet, however, raised its annual adjusted profit per share outlook in the range of $1.54 to $1.56, from a prior $1.49 to $1.53 per share.

Third-quarter revenue stood at $1.33 billion, falling short of estimates of $1.35 billion.

The company posted an adjusted profit of 41 cents per share, compared with estimates of 36 cents per share.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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