With all the financial issues going on today, students, as well as parents, are looking to find as many opportunities to take care of that large payment we all know as the college tuition. A way that students can help themselves is by taking out a loan, but students and parents have started asking questions like, “ Are these loans really helping me?” and “Will I regret having taken them in the long run?”

First, you have to educate yourself on what types of loans there are out there, because some loans will indeed harm you more than they will help you.  As some may know, there are two types of student loans, Direct Subsidized and Direct Unsubsidized. This is how you figure out if a loan is harmful or helpful. No matter what name the loan goes by, it will always fall in one of these two categories as long as it’s a student loan.

The main difference is that with a subsidized loan, you will not have to pay it until you are done with school. So, for example, if you decide you don’t need the loan if you go on to graduate school, you will not need to have to pay it all off until you are out of school completely.

In addition, the U.S. Department of Education still pays interest for the loan during the first six months out of school, also known as the grace period, and during a deferment period, which is the postponement of loan payments under certain conditions.

The unsubsidized loan, on the other hand, does not really have these options, which means you have to pay off the loans during your time at school, which also means that instead of focusing on your education and career, you have to worry about jobs and where you will get your money from, on top of homework.

In short, subsidized loans equals good and helpful; unsubsidized loans equals bad and harmful.