Can I get a student loan after bankruptcy? 

If you have filed for bankruptcy, you are protected from discriminatory treatment when you apply for a student loan from a governmental unit or a federally guaranteed student loan from a private entity. Under the Bankruptcy Code, these lenders may not deny a student grant or loan on the basis that the borrower is or has been a bankruptcy debtor, was unable to pay debts as they came due before or during a bankruptcy case, or has not paid a debt that was discharged in bankruptcy or is dischargeable in a pending bankruptcy case. Unlike most credit, the granting of government- guaranteed student loans is not based upon credit history or income. Instead, they are granted on the basis of statutory and administrative criteria. Although default on an existing student loan may affect your ability to get a subsequent student loan, the filing of a bankruptcy in itself should not.

If you are considering borrowing for educational purposes after a bankruptcy, however, government or government-guaranteed loans may be inadequate. Many people supplement their government loans with private loans, but private loans, even for educational purposes, are based on credit. Assuming that you can find a private lender to subsidize some of your educational expenses, the lender is likely to charge you a high interest rate because of your poor credit. One of the benefits of government student loans is that after the completion of your education, you can consolidate all the loans so that you make only one monthly payment. If you have private loans, you cannot consolidate them with your government loans. You will end up with multiple loan payments, which can become complicated and unmanageable. The government loans will have fixed interest rates; the private loans usually will have adjustable rates. This means that after you’ve completed your education, your private loan payments may increase before your income increases enough to cover them. Government loan payments can be structured to increase as your earning ability increases. Private loans generally cannot.