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It is possible for students and families to make good the difference between available financial aid and cost of higher education with the help of the New York Higher Education Loan Program. In order to be eligible for this loan, students have to exhaust all other Federal and State aids.
 
There are certain eligibility criteria that have to be met by the borrower of NYHELP student loan. They have to meet certain NYS residency qualifications and citizenship requirements:
The main campus of the institution student is studying in must be located in New York. Student must have been accepted for enrolment at least for a half time course in a professional certificate program. Borrowers must produce a co-signer.

Parents of students applying for the loan must be a birth parent, step parent or adoptive parent. Legal guardian of the student must have been appointed b the court. Sponsor applying for a loan for the education of an eligible student must meet all credit criteria and must be over 21 years old.

Students who come with eligible parents, sponsors and consigners will be offered maximum annual loans amounting to the attendance cost excluding Federal aid, private aid, institutional aid and State financial aid. Loan amount offered for a 2-year undergraduate student is $20,000, for a 4 year undergraduate student $50,000 and $70,000 for a combined graduate and undergraduate course.

This loan scheme charges interest rates according to prevailing market conditions at the time of loan disbursements. For the 2009-10 academic years, it is possible for borrowers to get a loan with 7.5 to 9.0 fixed interest rates for loans up to $5000.

Loans offered under the NYHELP scheme is governed by the college fee amount and borrower fee. Loan amount is calculated usually by adding the cost of attendance to the borrower fees. Borrower may not receive the college fee and there are bound to be variations in the combined fees based on the co-signer and borrower credit rating.

The NYHELP loan comes packed with certain key features.

Those who borrow under this scheme for example are offered a financial literacy program which is user-friendly. This program which is web based covers various aspects such as student loans, credit and money management. This helps students make informed decisions on borrowing and provides them with information on pros and cons of credit card debt. It also emphasizes the responsibility of students to repay the loans. This course has to be necessarily completed before a student can apply for the NYHELP loan.

This loan can be accessed by student borrowers through the HESC loan marketplace for students. This marketplace offers students the facility to compare various non-federal private loans before making a decision. These loans usually have only one credit check. They receive reliable information by preserving the scores.

The first batch of NYHELP loans will be disbursed for the academic year 2009-10, Spring Semester, to a maximum amount of $5000. Though NYHELP offers a highly competitive loan, it is in the best interest of students to first consider scholarships, grants and federal loans before reaching out for this loan assistance.