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Updated May 21, 2025
Expertise:
Mortgages, personal loans, student loans, auto loans, banking, budgeting, debt, insurance, credit cards, credit
Lindsay VanSomeren is a personal finance writer living in Suquamish, Washington. She’s passionate about helping people learn how to manage their money better so that they can live the life they want. In her spare time, she enjoys outdoor adventures, reading, and learning new languages and hobbies.
Private Student Loans
- Nonprofit lender
- Offers no-cosigner loans
- Special rates and benefits for in-state Illinois and Iowa residents
- Limited digital service
- Not available in Maine
- No rate discounts for Iowa residents
| Rates (APR) | 3.54% – 8.75% fixed |
| Loan amounts | Up to your school-certified cost of attendance |
| Repayment terms | 10 or 15 years |
Refinance Student Loans
| Rates (APR) | 5.14% – 9.40% fixed |
| Loan amounts | $5,000 – $300,000 |
| Repayment terms | 5, 7, 10, 15, or 20 years |
Iowa Student Loan Liquidity Corporation, better known as ISL Lending, is an Iowa-based nonprofit that helps students plan for and finance their college educations. However, students and parents nationwide are still welcome to apply for its loans.
Many state-based nonprofits offer benefits for in-state students, but ISL Lending’s benefits aren’t as widespread for Iowa residents. Strangely enough, it’s Illinois students who have access to better rates and benefits.
Table of Contents
About ISL Education Lending
ISL Education Lending offers a few loan types. It’s easy to get confused by them, so here’s the full list of its options and the main differences:
- Partnership Advance Education Loan: ISL Education Lending’s main student loan program for undergrads and grads nationwide.
- Illinois Partnership Loan: Students who are Illinois residents and studying at an in-state institution may qualify for a slight rate reduction.
- Partnership No-Cosigner Loan: Upper-level undergrads and grads living and studying in Iowa may qualify for a loan without needing a cosigner. Illinois undergrads may also qualify for a no-cosigner student loan.
- College Family Loan: Parents nationwide can fund their children’s undergrad or grad education with this loan.
- Illinois College Family Loan: Illinois parents can qualify for lower rates on student loans if their resident kids attend an in-state school for their undergrad or grad degree.
- Reset Refinance Loan: ISL Education Lending’s primary student loan refinance program.
- Parent Reset Refinance Loan: Refinance loans for parents who took out loans for your child’s education.
- In-School Refinance: Parents or students can refinance loans while still in school, with payment still deferred until after graduation.
ISL Education Loan details
Most of ISL Education Lending’s loans offer three in-school repayment options: deferred payments, interest-only payments, or immediate full repayment.
If you needed a cosigner to qualify, you can apply to have them removed from your loan after you meet the loan underwriting qualifications yourself, and you’ve made 24 consecutive on-time payments.
| Term | Private student loans | Student loan refinance |
| Rates (APR) | 3.54% – 8.75% | 5.14% – 9.40% |
| Loan amounts | Up to your school-certified cost of attendance | $5,000 – $300,000 |
| Repayment period | 10 or 15 years | 5, 7, 10, 15, or 20 years |
| Fees | None | None |
ISL Education eligibility requirements
| Requirement | Details |
| Citizenship | U.S. Citizen or permanent resident |
| State of residence | Any state except Maine. Special benefits and features for some loans may only be available for Illinois and Iowa residents. |
| Min. age | 18, or the age of majority in your state |
| Min. credit score | 660 FICO for student loans, 670 FICO for refinance loans |
| Min. income | No specific amount. Debt-to-income ratio must be less than 40% (or 25%, if not making any rent or mortgage payments) |
| Enrollment status* | Half-time status or higher, with satisfactory academic progress |
| Graduation status** | In-school refinancing available |
How does ISL Education Lending compare to alternatives?
Given the number of private student loan companies competing for your business, it’s wise to shop around before settling on ISL Education Lending. Here’s how it compares to a few similar options:
- Brazos: This Texas-based nonprofit offers much lower rates than ISL, but it’s only available to Texas students and residents (and only residents, for its refinance loans).
- Credible: Credible isn’t a lender, but it will let you check student loan and refinance rates from 10+ lenders with one easy form, rather than having to check your rates with each company individually.
- Earnest: Most lenders give you a choice of a few term length options, but Earnest offers 180 choices. That’s especially helpful when you’re refinancing, because you can choose the exact term length to dial your monthly payment in the sweet spot you can afford.
View our full lists of the best private student loans and best refinance lenders.
What do ISL customers say?
There aren’t a ton of customer reviews online for ISL Education Lending, and when you do find them, people are often discussing its scholarships, not its student loans.
However, customer reviews over the past couple of years that do talk about its student loans frequently mention that it’s not a very technologically modern lender, with several annoying glitches and limitations that make it harder to get and repay an ISL student loan.
| Platform | Rating | Number of reviews |
| Trustpilot | 4.7/5 | 1,463 |
| 3.1/5 | 28 |
How to apply for an ISL Education loan
Take these steps to apply for a student loan with ISL:
- Prequalify: Complete a simple form on ISL Education Lending’s website to see what rates you might be eligible for without undergoing a hard credit check (yet).
- Check with other lenders: This step is optional, but we recommend it to ensure you’re getting the best rates possible.
- Complete an application: ISL will reach out if it needs additional information or documents.
- Receive a decision: If you’re approved, the funds will be disbursed to your school.
How we rated ISL Education Lending student loans
We designed LendEDU’s editorial rating system to help readers find companies that offer the best student loans. Our system awards higher ratings to companies with affordable solutions, positive customer reviews, and online transparency of benefits and terms.
We compared ISL Education Lending to several student loan lenders, using hundreds of data points from company websites, public disclosures, customer reviews, and direct communication with company representatives. We weighted, scored, and combined each factor to produce a final editorial rating. This rating is expressed on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest possible score. Our take is represented in our rating, recapped below.
