Looks like even Citi Assist does not give loans without a cosigner.
abhyudaya wrote:
I have received acceptance from Duke. But Duke, like other schools, is not guaranteeing loans w/o co-signer. I guess all schools are waiting for the economy to improve. I talked to Sally Mae; they said they could give loans w/o co-signer for select schools, but then the applicant should fulfil the credit requirements.
This automatically discounts
1) internationals who will be coming to the U.S. for the first time, as they don't have SSN
2) ppl like me who have stayed in U.S for some time (in my case close 1 year), but don't have a long enough credit history.
Indian applicants can take loans from back home, but 2 concerns
1) Interest rates are very high, close to 15%.
2) Recent currency fluctuations have made it much more expensive. In Jan, $1=INR 40, now $1=1NR 50. So now we can get a max loan of 40k, which will cover only 30% of the expenses.
At the moment I really don't know whether I shall make it to school in 2009. However, I intend to present the case of international admits to Duke.