Take every dollar of federal aid you qualify for before you look at a private student loan. Federal loans carry income-driven repayment, deferment, forbearance and forgiveness programmes. Private loans carry none of that, and no lender on this page will pretend otherwise.
Once federal aid runs out, private loans fill the gap. We compared six lenders on fixed and variable APR, fees, cosigner terms and repayment flexibility, and checked every rate against the lender itself.
Rates verified 25 August 2026. Three of the six carry a partner link and three do not; all six are included on merit.
Use federal loans first. Always.
This is the part most comparison pages skip because there is no commission in it. Federal Direct Subsidised and Unsubsidised loans should be exhausted before any private borrowing, for reasons that have nothing to do with the interest rate.
| Federal loans | Private loans | |
|---|---|---|
| Repayment if income drops | Income-driven plans, payment can fall to $0 | Fixed payment regardless of income |
| Forgiveness | PSLF and IDR forgiveness available | None |
| Deferment and forbearance | Statutory rights | At the lender's discretion |
| Credit check | Not required for Direct loans | Required, cosigner usually needed |
| Death or disability discharge | Yes | Varies by lender |
File the FAFSA first. If there is still a shortfall after grants, scholarships, work-study and federal loans, that gap is what a private loan is for. Our student loans 101 guide covers the federal limits and rates, and the repayment plan options explain what you are giving up by borrowing privately instead.
Compare the best private student loans
| Lender | Fixed APR | Variable APR | Best for | Fees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EarnestBest overall | 2.79%–16.74% | 5.24%–17.10% | Custom repayment | None |
| LendKeyCredit unions | 2.64%–15.54% | 3.43%–16.08% | Lowest ceiling | None |
| College AveLowest floor | 1.94%–17.99% | 3.89%–17.99% | Lowest advertised rate | None |
| Sallie MaeCosigner release | 1.95%–17.49% | 3.62%–16.83% | Release after 12 payments | No origination |
| CitizensMulti-year | 4.24%–15.60% | 5.99%–16.60% | One approval, whole degree | None |
| SoFiStacked discounts | 2.45%–15.99% | 4.39%–15.99% | Stackable discounts | None |
All APRs include autopay discounts where the lender offers one. College Ave and Sallie Mae advertise the lowest floors and we earn nothing from either.
The best private student loans of 2026
Earnest takes the top slot because it gives you the most control over what you actually repay. You set the term rather than picking from a fixed menu, which matters when you are budgeting a specific monthly payment on a starting salary. The nine month grace period is three months longer than most competitors, useful if work does not begin straight after graduation, and there are no origination or prepayment fees. Its variable ceiling is the highest here at 17.10%, so take the fixed rate.
- Choose your own term and monthly payment
- Nine month grace period, longer than the usual six
- No origination or prepayment fees
- Autopay and loyalty discounts stack
- Higher variable ceiling at 17.10%
- Not available in every state
- Advertised floor needs both discounts plus the shortest term
LendKey is not the lender. It routes your application to credit unions and community banks, which is why its ceiling is lower than most direct lenders. If you want credit union pricing without researching individual institutions, this is the shortcut.
- Access to credit union pricing without joining first
- Lowest ceiling of the linked options at 15.54% fixed
- One application reaches multiple lenders
- 0.25% autopay reduction
- A marketplace, so the eventual lender varies
- Lowest APR only on a 5 year term
- Membership may be required at funding
Highly customisable repayment, and the lowest starting rate on this list.
College Ave advertises the lowest starting rate on this page, and we are listing it even though we earn nothing from it. Note the spread: 1.94% to 17.99% is an enormous range, and the floor requires excellent credit, a cosigner and the shortest term.
- Lowest advertised fixed floor here at 1.94%
- Covers up to 100% of school costs
- Multiple in-school repayment choices
- Three minute application
- Highest ceiling on this list at 17.99%
- Wide spread means the floor is unrepresentative
- We have no partner link, so this is editorial only
The largest private student lender, with cosigner release after 12 payments.
Sallie Mae is the largest private student lender and the cosigner release after 12 payments is genuinely useful, since most parents want off the loan as soon as possible. We have no partnership here and are including it because leaving it out would make this list dishonest.
- Cosigner release available after 12 on-time payments
- No origination or prepayment fees
- Covers undergraduate, graduate and career training
- Four months of free tutoring included
- Variable rates can move significantly over a long term
- No partner link, listed editorially
- Customer service reviews are mixed
One approval covering your whole degree.
The multi-year approval is the reason to consider Citizens. Getting approved once for all four years removes an annual credit check and the risk of being declined mid-degree. Its floor is the highest here, so it competes on certainty rather than price.
- Multi-year approval avoids reapplying each year
- Loyalty and autopay discounts combine for 0.50%
- Graduate, parent and law school products
- Lower ceiling than most at 15.60% fixed
- Highest starting rate on this list at 4.24% fixed
- Loyalty discount needs an existing Citizens account
- No partner link
SoFi has the deepest discount stack on this page, with autopay, new borrower, continuing scholar and member reductions that combine rather than replace each other, and no fees at any point. The 2.45% floor assumes you qualify for all of them at once, which very few undergraduates will. It is last here because the advertised rate is the least representative of what a typical student is offered, not because the loan is worse.
- No origination, application or late fees
- Autopay, new borrower, continuing scholar and member discounts stack
- Undergraduate, graduate, law, MBA and parent loans
- Variable rate capped at 17.95%
- Best pricing needs several discounts at once
- Cosigner usually required for undergraduates
- Variable rates can rise over a long term
Fixed or variable, and why it matters more here
A variable rate starts lower and moves with the index. On a two year personal loan that is a small risk. On a student loan you may be repaying for fifteen years, and every lender on this page caps variable rates in the high teens.
The gap is real today. LendKey starts at 2.64% fixed against 3.43% variable, so fixed is actually cheaper at the floor. SoFi shows 2.45% fixed against 4.39% variable. When the fixed rate is at or below the variable rate, as it is for most lenders right now, there is no argument for taking the variable.
Cosigners matter just as much. Most undergraduates cannot qualify alone, and a cosigner typically moves the offered rate several points. Earnest and Sallie Mae both publish cosigner release, so the parent comes off the loan once payments are established.
How we picked
Every APR on this page was checked against the lender's own published rates in August 2026 rather than carried over from a previous version. Where a lender publishes a rates-as-of date we have shown it.
We ranked on overall fit rather than advertised floor, because the lowest advertised rate on any student loan requires excellent credit, a cosigner and the shortest available term, which describes almost no undergraduate. Discover was removed from this page: it stopped accepting private student loan applications on 31 January 2024 and sold its portfolio.
Three of the six lenders here carry a partner link and three do not. The three without still appear, and College Ave and Sallie Mae are named as having the lowest advertised floors, because a list that hid that would not be worth reading.
Already borrowed and looking at your options? See the best refinance lenders, how to pay loans off faster, or which forgiveness programmes still exist. If you are researching a lender you remember from a few years ago, note that CommonBond shut down in 2022.
