Sallie Mae student loan review: low rates, options for part-time students

One of the largest private student loan providers in the U.S., Sallie Mae®* is best known for its low rates and for offering loans for a wide variety of educational programs, including professional training and certificate courses.

We like how, unlike some lenders, it approves funds for full-time, half-time and even part-time students — as little as $1,000 or up to 100% of school-certified expenses.

Sallie Mae may not be the right fit if you expect to refinance your student loan, however, since it doesn't offer refinancing.

Sallie Mae started in 1972 as the Student Loan Marketing Association, a government-sponsored entity servicing federal student loans. It became a publicly traded consumer bank in 2004 and now offers private student loans and savings products that help families pay for college.

It offers loans for a variety of educational needs, including:

• Undergraduate school
• Graduate school
• Career training and professional certification courses
• Business school
• Law school
• Bar study
• Medical school, residency and relocation costs
• Dental school, residency and relocation costs
• Nursing school/health professions
• Commercial flight school
• Coding boot camp

To be eligible for a Sallie Mae student loan, you must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident or have a creditworthy co-signer who is. International students and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients are also eligible if they reside in and attend school in the U.S. and have an eligible co-signer.

In all cases, the student or co-signer must be the age of majority in their state of residence.

Enrollment status

Borrowers can be enrolled full-time, half-time or less than half-time, and loans can be used for in-person or online schooling or as part of a participating school's study abroad program.

Eligible institutions can be found on the online application.

Credit requirements

Sallie Mae looks at several factors when reviewing an application, including your credit score, loan and payment history, employment status, income and outstanding debts. However, it doesn't disclose the minimum credit score or income requirements for approval.

You're not required to have a co-signer but applicants are four times more likely to be approved with one, according to Sallie Mae. From October 2022 to September 2023, 88% of Sallie Mae undergraduate loans had a co-signer.

The exact rates and terms of your Sallie Mae loan may vary based on your credit and program.

Rates

Currently, Sallie Mae's undergraduate student loans have a fixed APR of 2.89% to 17.49% and a variable APR of 3.87% - 16.50%. Information advertised valid as of 12/26/2025.

Graduate school loans have a fixed APR of 2.89% to 14.99% and a variable APR of 4.12% to 13.73%.

Rates include a 0.25% discount for using autopay to make your monthly payments.

Terms

Loan terms can range from 10 to 15 years, depending on the amount.

Fees

Sallie Mae does not charge application or origination fees and there is no penalty for paying off your loan early. There is, however, a late fee of 5% of the past due amount (up to $25) and a returned check fee of up to $20.

Loan amounts

The minimum loan amount available to borrowers is $1,000 and the maximum is 100% of your school-certified costs for the entire year, minus any financial aid. Approved expenses include tuition and fees, books, room and board, supplies, laptops and transportation.

Sallie Mae offers a variety of repayment options, whether you want to start while still in school or wait until you graduate. All come with a six-month grace period after you graduate or withdraw from school.

Interest repayment: You pay loan interest while in school and during the grace period. After that, you begin making monthly payments on the principal and interest. Since you start during school, this option lets you save the most on your total costs.

Fixed repayment: You pay a fixed $25 amount every month while in school and during your grace period. After the six-month window ends, your payment amount increases.

Deferred repayment: You don't make any payments until you complete school and your grace period is over. While this means you'll have more to pay back, you'll be able to focus on your studies.

Deferment and forbearance options vary based on the type of loan, but loan forgiveness is typically only available in the event of a borrower's death or permanent and total disability. If you're experiencing financial hardship, contact Sallie Mae to discuss available options.

Sallie Mae offers a variety of tools to make the borrowing process easier, including a student-loan repayment calculator, scholarship programs and free access to your FICO® Score. Other perks include:

Scholarship Search by Sallie: The online database allows you to quickly pore through hundreds of scholarships, filtering by amount, state, requirements, major, target recipients and more.

Co-signer release: If you make 12 on-time payments and meet certain credit requirements, Sallie Mae will allow you to release your co-signer. Other providers require as many as 24 payments or make you wait until your repayment period is more than half over.

Multi-Year Advantage: You still need to submit an application each year you're in school, but Sallie Mae claims 95% of undergraduate and graduate students who were approved for the 2021-2002 academic year with a co-signer were re-approved when they returned for the 2022-2023 year.

While Sallie Mae has much to recommend it, there are some drawbacks.

Pros

• Loans available to part-time students
• Co-signer release after 12 payments
• No origination, application or prepayment fees
• Accepts in-school payments

Cons

• No student loan refinancing
• No parent loans
• Hard credit check to prequalify
• Credit score requirements not disclosed
• Late fee and returned payment charge

Sallie Mae received an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau, the organization's highest grade and an indication of how it responds to and resolves complaints.

New Sallie Mae customers can call 855-756-5626, Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET, Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Existing customers can call 800-472-5543, Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET and Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET.

You can also use the automated chat feature on the Sallie Mae website to get answers to common questions.

First, complete the Sallie Mae online application by entering your personal information, including name, address, birth date, employment history and Social Security number.

You'll also need to submit information about your school including:

• School name
• Degree or program
• Enrollment level
• Expected graduation date
• Any financial aid you've been awarded
• Estimated cost of attendance, including tuition, books and supplies

If you're approved, you'll pick your loan repayment option and either a fixed or variable interest rate. Review and sign the loan disclosure and then Sallie Mae will disburse funds directly to your institution.

You only need to apply once per year.

We looked at how Sallie Mae stacked up to two other major providers in the student loan space.

Sallie Mae vs SoFi

Sallie Mae and SoFi® both landed on our list of best private student loan providers, but they excel in different areas.

SoFi doesn't issue loans for as many programs as Sallie Mae, for example, but it does offer parent student loans, which Sallie Mae doesn't. And while you can prequalify with SoFi without hurting your credit score, applying with Sallie Mae requires a hard credit check.

SoFi borrowers must be enrolled in school at least half-time, while Sallie Mae lets students get financing even if they're just going part-time.

The two lenders' interest rates and terms are comparable, and both avoid origination, application and prepayment fees. Sallie Mae does assess late fees and returned payment charges, however.

You can get a loan for up to 100% of your school-certified costs with either SoFi or Sallie Mae. But while Sallie Mae will let you borrow as little as $1,000, SoFi's minimum is $5,000. If you have a co-signer, SoFi requires 24 consecutive on-time payments before you can release them. That's twice the number required by Sallie Mae.

If you think you'll want to refinance your student loans, however, that's not an option through Sallie Mae.

Sallie Mae vs. College Ave

College Ave is another well-respected name in student loans and is even more closely matched with Sallie Mae: Both offer loans to full-time, half-time and part-time students and will lend as little as $1,000 or as much as 100% of your school-certified costs.

Sallie Mae's current rates are slightly lower and it approves loans for more programs, but College Ave has more options for repayment terms. And, like SoFi, College Ave lets you review the rates and terms you're eligible for without hurting your credit score.

Sallie Mae requires a formal loan application with a hard credit check. That can ding your credit score, although only temporarily.

Neither provider hits borrowers with application or origination fees and they both have late fees and returned-check charges.

College Ave does offer parent loans and refinancing, but if you're getting a co-signer, you won't be able to release them until more than half of your repayment period has passed.

At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every student loan review is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of student loan products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics.

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Interest Rates: Eligibility and Important Details. Fixed rates range from 2.98% APR to 15.99% APR with 0.25% autopay discount. Variable rates range from 4.39% APR to 15.99% APR with a 0.25% autopay discount. Unless required to be lower to comply with applicable law, Variable Interest rates are capped at 17.95%. SoFi rate ranges are current as of 5/21/2026 and are subject to change at any time. Your actual rate will be within the range of rates listed above and will depend on the term and type of repayment option you select, evaluation of your creditworthiness, income, presence of a co-signer (if applicable) and a variety of other factors. Lowest rates reserved for the most creditworthy borrowers. Check out our eligibility criteria at https://www.sofi.com/eligibility criteria/. For the SoFi variable-rate product, the variable interest rate for a given month is derived by adding a margin to the 30-day average SOFR index, published two business days preceding such calendar month, rounded up to the nearest one hundredth of one percent (0.01% or 0.0001). APRs for variable-rate loans may increase after origination if the SOFR index increases. Autopay Discount: The SoFi 0.25% autopay interest rate reduction requires you to agree to make monthly payments as outlined in your loan agreement by an automatic monthly deduction from a savings or checking account. This benefit will discontinue and be lost for periods in which you do not pay by automatic deduction from a savings or checking account. When the autopay interest rate deduction is added or removed, the next time the loan is re-amortized (quarterly for fixed rate loans; monthly for variable rate loans),the principal balance of your loan will be spread over the remaining loan term, and your monthly payment amount will change. This benefit is suspended during periods of deferment, grace period, or forbearance. Autopay is not required to receive a loan from SoFi. SoFi Private Student loans are originated by SoFi Bank, N.A. Member FDIC. NMLS #696891 (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org).