Sallie Mae
Amount: $1k-$15k
Interest: LIBOR + Index
Fee: 0% 4%
Deferment: up to 36 months
Early Repayment Penalty: No
Other: %0.25 reduction with auto payments
Wells Fargo: MedCAP-XTRA
Amount: $15k
Interest: Prime + Index
Fee: 0%
Deferment: 36 months followed by another 24 months of forbearance (another term for deferment)
Early Repayment Penalty: No
Other: 0.50% reduction when graduation, 0.25% reduction with auto payments
Citi
Amount: $1K-$18K
Interest: Index
Fee: Call
Deferment: 60 months
Early Repayment Penalty: ?
Other: 0.25% reduction with auto payments
Graduate Leverage = Not accepting loan apps at the domoment. Will be several months until they do
Amount: up to $20K
Interest: LIBOR + Index
Fee: 0-6%
Deferment: up to 84 months
Early Repayment Penalty: No
Other: 1% rate reduction upon repayment; 0.25% reduction with auto payments
Your index interest rate will be based upon your credit. You really don't need a cosigner to get a decent deal on your loan.
The above lenders are the most legit ones I found online and heard about after talking to my schools financial aid office. Call yours to see if there are others they work with.
Wells Fargo has the longest total deferment which I thought was nice so I went with them.
To get a feel for what the Prime Rate has been like for the past 10 years:
http://www.moneycafe.com/library/ratecharts/ratecharts18.gif
To get a feel for the LIBOR Rate:
http://www.moneycafe.com/library/ratecharts/ratecharts14.gif
These outfits will usually send you the loan money fairly quickly if you desire but the juice starts running as soon as you receive it. The application is fairly easy and does not require as much paperwork as you may think. Good luck.