Best Private Student Loans of August 2025

Once they’ve maxed federal financial aid, many students turn to private student loans. They can be used for a variety of educational expenses, including tuition, housing, books and computers.

Available from traditional banks, credit unions and fintechs, private student loans tend to have higher limits and a faster approval process than federal loans. If you have good credit, you might even get a lower interest rate.

CNBC Select has sought out the best private student loans, looking at rates, loan types and amounts, repayment terms, credit requirements and more. (See our methodology for more on how we made this list.)

A private student loan is a form of educational financing not provided by the Department of Education, but by a bank, credit union, online lender, state agency or other institution. It’s typically an option when federal student aid runs out or is insufficient to cover the cost of attendance.

Unlike federal loans, private loans require a credit check, so students typically need a co-signer.

In addition, while federal student loans have a fixed interest rate determined by the DOE, rates for private loans can be fixed or variable and vary by lender.

Some private loans come with deferment options or grace periods, but repayment terms are typically less flexible than federal loans. They’re also not eligible for government student loan forgiveness programs

Who’s this for? College Ave combines low rates, high loan amounts and flexible repayment terms. Borrowers can begin repaying in school or defer until graduation, with a choice of 5-, 8-, 10- or 15-year terms; (or 20 years for graduate loans)

Standout benefits: Borrowers with good credit don’t need a co-signer. College Ave also offers hardship protections like deferment, forbearance and grace period options.

Who’s this for? Sallie Mae’s offerings are extremely competitive, but it offers fewer repayment term options than some other lenders on this list. Borrowers can only choose to pay back their loan within 10 to 15 years.

Standout benefits: Borrowers can score a 0.25% autopay rate discount and take advantage of no origination, application or prepayment fees.

Who’s this for? Ascent stands out for opening up eligibility to prospective borrowers who don’t have a co-signer. The lender will consider those without established credit, as well as those who meet the minimum credit requirements but not the income or repayment requirements. In these cases, the lender looks at other factors like a borrower’s school, program, graduation date, major, GPA, cost of attendance and Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP).

Standout benefits: Ascent offers an autopay discount of up to 1%, four times what most lenders provide. It also gives 1% cash back on principal loan amounts at graduation.

Who’s this for? Earnest gives prospective borrowers with good credit a chance at getting money more so than they may at other lenders. This is because Earnest allows applicants with a minimum FICO® Score of 650 to apply. If applying with a cosigner, only the cosigner must meet the minimum credit score requirement. Borrowers can also skip one payment a year without penalties, though we don’t recommend making this a habit.

Standout benefits: Borrower protections include a 9-month grace period

Who’s this for? The only way to refinance your student loans is through a private lender, and SoFi leads the way with low fixed and variable refinancing rates.

Standout benefits: Borrowers can get unemployment protection and other forbearance options, plus make student loan payments while still in school.

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.

To determine which private student loans are the best for borrowers, CNBC Select analyzed and compared private student loan funding from national banks, credit unions and online lenders. We narrowed down our ranking by only considering those that offer competitive student loan rates and prequalification tools that don’t hurt borrowers’ credit.

While the companies we chose in this article consistently rank as having some of the market’s lower interest rates, we also compared each company on the following features:

• Availability: All of the lenders on our list offer undergraduate and graduate private student loans and have variable and fixed interest rates.
• Loan terms: Each lender provides a variety of financing options that borrowers can customize based on their monthly budget and how long they need to pay back their student loan. Each company also allows borrowers to start repaying their student loans while still in school.
• Fees: None of the companies on our list charges borrowers an upfront origination fee or a prepayment penalty.
• Application process: We made sure companies offered a fast online application process
• Autopay discounts: All of the companies listed offer an autopay interest rate discount
• Private student loan protections: Each company on our list offers some type of financial hardship protection for borrowers
• Loan sizes: The above companies offer private student loans in an array of sizes, all the way up to the cost of college attendance. Each company advertises its respective loan sizes, and completing a preapproval process can give borrowers an idea of what their interest rate and monthly payment would be
• Credit requirements/eligibility: We took into consideration the minimum credit scores and income levels required if this information was available
• Customer support: Every company on our list provides customer service available via telephone, email or secure online messaging. We also opted for lenders with an online resource hub or advice center to help borrowers educate themselves about student loans in general

After reviewing the above features, we sorted our recommendations by best for flexible repayment terms, best for low rates, best for applying without a co-signer, best for fair credit and best for refinancing.

We also considered CNBC Select audience data when available, such as general demographics and engagement with our content and tools.

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Autopay Discount: The SoFi 0.25% autopay interest rate reduction requires you to agree to make monthly principal and interest payments by an automatic monthly deduction from a savings or checking account. This benefit will be removed during periods in which you do not pay by automatic deduction from a savings or checking account. The benefit lowers your interest rate but does not change the amount of your monthly payment. This benefit is suspended during periods of deferment and forbearance. Autopay is not required to receive a loan from SoFi.

SoFi Plus Discount: To be eligible to receive an additional (0.125%) interest rate reduction on your Student Loan Refinancing (your “Loan”) for enrolling in SoFi Plus, you must enroll in SoFi Plus within 30 days of Loan funding, either by receiving an Eligible Direct Deposit to your SoFi Checking and Savings account, or by paying the SoFi Plus Subscription Fee. Once eligible, you will receive this discount during periods in which you have received Eligible Direct Deposit to your SoFi Checking and Savings Account, or during periods in which SoFi successfully receives payment of the SoFi Plus Subscription Fee. This discount lowers your interest rate but does not change the amount of your regular monthly payment. This discount will be removed during periods in which SoFi determines you have turned off Eligible Direct Deposit to your Checking and Savings account or in which you have not paid the SoFi Plus Subscription Fee. SoFi reserves the right to change or terminate this interest rate reduction offer for unenrolled participants at any time without notice. You are not required to enroll in Eligible Direct Deposit or to pay the SoFi Plus Subscription Fee to be eligible for Loan approval. See what qualifies as an Eligible Direct Deposit here: www.sofi.com/terms-of-use/#slr-discount.