RISLA Private Student Loans

The Rhode Island Student Loan Authority (RISLA) provides private student loans for undergraduate and graduate students and private parent loans for parents of undergraduate students. The student must be a Rhode Island resident or attending an eligible Rhode Island college or university.

Highlights:

• RISLA offers the only private student loan with income-based repayment
• Low fixed interest rates with no fees
• 0.25% interest rate reduction for auto-debit and $2,000 loan forgiveness for internships

Interest rates are reduced by 0.25 percentage points for borrowers who make automatic payments during the in-school period. In addition, RISLA will forgive up to $2,000 for students who do an internship for credit while they are in school.

The RISLA private student loans offer fixed interest rates of 4.49% to 6.42% for students and fixed interest rates of 4.74% for parents. There are no application, origination or disbursement fees. In-school payment options include immediate repayment and full deferment.

Repayment terms include 10 and 15 years for level repayment and 25 years for income-based repayment. The income-based repayment option bases the monthly payment on 15% of discretionary income for 25 years, with the remaining balance forgiven. The loan forgiveness will be treated as taxable income.

Cosigner release is available after 24 months of consecutive, full, on-time monthly payments. RISLA offers a death discharge similar to the one offered on federal education loans.