How to Get an Abroad Education Loan for Bachelors Studies?

Is it really that hard to get an abroad education loan for bachelor's studies? 

If you search for the education loan schemes for abroad studies online, you'll observe that the majority of the lenders mostly cater to the financial requirements of students wishing to pursue their Master’s courses rather than undergraduate ones.  

Now, this is mostly due to the fact that the proportion of students pursuing master's degrees overseas is significantly larger than that of students pursuing bachelor's degrees abroad.

So, this implies you can get an education loan for bachelor's studies as well. In this article, we'll tell you all about the various conditions under which lenders provide education loans for undergraduate studies and how you can save on a whole lot of time and money if you plan the whole process and then execute it.

If you don't know, we are also on YouTube where we've covered every aspect of the abroad education loan in a series named "LoanFlix". And in the 32nd episode, we've already covered this topic which you can also watch below-

It is important to know your available options as the loan amount, procedure, and eligibility criteria will vary greatly depending on what you opt- 

Collateral loans - Collateral loans which are also known as secured loans are majorly offered by prominent Government banks in India where you are required to put up collateral as security with the bank. 
Non-Collateral loans - Non-Collateral loans which are also known as unsecured loans are majorly offered by private lenders (Private banks, NBFCs, and international lenders) where the collateral is not a requirement to get the loan.

When you compare the education loan terms of different lenders, you'll find out that the government banks are the best for taking abroad education loans for bachelor's studies. (How? continue reading and find out) 

Now in the case of a collateral education loan with government banks, they can pretty much fund all bachelor's degrees in almost every major country. 

On the other hand, private lenders especially NBFCs and International lenders do not fund bachelor's degrees at all. Rarely do these NBFCs fund a bachelor's degree, even if they do, it certainly wouldn't be a cost-effective option for students.

As mentioned above, only Government banks and Private banks can provide an education loan for your bachelor's studies abroad. Where Government banks can only provide up to 7.5 lakhs of unsecured education loans, private banks can provide up to 30 lakhs of unsecured education loans for bachelor's degrees abroad.

But with collateral, Government banks can provide up to 1.5 crores (Granted the value of the property and requirement is around 1.5 crores) at a lower rate of interest. 

There are many more Government bank education loan benefits like larger loan sums, lower interest rates, no-payment moratorium periods, etc that collateral loans from private banks just can not match.

There are eligibility parameters that students are required to meet in order to get an education loan for their bachelor's degree. As mentioned the Eligibility criteria may vary from bank to bank as per the type of loan you opt for.

However, the eligibility parameters set by private banks are more stringent than that of government banks, and to know all that, read our previous article where we've covered the eligibility parameters extensively- Applicants Eligibility Criteria for Education Loan. 

All the criteria set by private banks mentioned in the above-linked article like the CIBIL score, Nature of course, the choice of country, etc is also applicable in the case of a bachelor's degree.

But the main factor that private banks check in the case of a bachelor's degree is the worldwide ranking and the reputation of the university that you plan to attend.

This is because the Private banks have a list of universities with them only for which they approve an unsecured education loan. And if your opted university/ institution doesn't fall under their list of universities, they will reject your loan application for bachelor's study.

Students waste their time by applying to private banks directly only to find out their university doesn't fall under the list of universities leading to loan application rejection. This rejection affects your CIBIL score jeopardizing your future attempts. Also sometimes the bank official may simply reject the UG program without any proper reason. 

This is why you should apply for your education loan via WeMakeScholars, an organization supported by the IT ministry of India. We have partnered with 10+ Public and Private lenders and so we've access to their list of universities. We can assess your profile and accordingly assist you in getting your education loan for your bachelor's abroad. We also cut down on the processing time taken by government banks if you apply through us.

• So, banks need interest as soon as possible, especially private banks and NBFCs that's why they start students' EMI from day one for bachelor's, and not many agree on that. 
• Banks presume that since a student is going for a bachelor's, in the future he/she will opt for a master's too, and in long run, it will be difficult for students to manage EMIs. And banks are not fond of recovering the loan amount by other means.
• Banks want to invest their funds in a profile where it guarantees the return and so they prefer masters instead.

As mentioned, getting an education loan for a bachelor's is difficult but not impossible, there is a high probability banks will reject your application if you decide to go on your own. 

But if you take an education loan via WeMakeScholars, you won't face any issues. It has happened before those students whose loan applications were denied by the bank were granted the loan when they reapplied via us.