College Ave Student Loans Review August 2025

Whether you're looking to get private student loans to pay for college or refinance your existing student loans, College Ave can help. The company launched in 2014 and offers a wide variety of loans for undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees, as well as career loans and parent loans.

While College Ave has relatively low minimum APRs, its maximum APRs are on the high end compared to some lenders. Find out more about College Ave in our student loans review.

College Ave student loans review

Best for: Extended grace periods

Private student loan lender College Ave stands out due to the extended grace periods it offers. Undergraduate and career loan borrowers have a standard six-month grace period, similar to federal loans and many other private loans.

However, graduate students have longer grace periods. Borrowers getting an MBA, studying law, or working toward a health profession can take advantage of a nine-month grace period. Dental loan borrowers have a grace period of 12 months, while medical school loan borrowers have a lengthy grace period of 36 months.

Plus, College Ave's flexible repayment options provide borrowers with several choices. You can choose to defer payments while in school, make a flat $25 monthly payment, make an interest-only payment, or make full payments.

Pros and cons

Eligibility requirements

You must meet College Ave's eligibility requirements to get a private student loan or a refinance loan.

To qualify for College Ave student loans, borrowers must:

• Be 16 years of age or older.
• Enroll in an eligible school in the United States.
• Have a Social Security number.
• Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident (or have a cosigner who is).
• Meet satisfactory academic progress (SAP) requirements set by your school.
• Have an established credit history and income (or have a creditworthy, qualified cosigner, who must have a credit score in the mid-600s).
• Borrow a minimum of $1,000.
• Meet minimum income requirements.

Current private student loan rates

Borrowing limits

If you want to take out College Ave student loans, the minimum loan amount is $1,000, while the maximum loan amount is the school-certified cost of attendance, minus any other financial aid received. However, depending on the loan type, there are set maximum amounts.

Repayment terms

College Ave student loans have different repayment terms, which vary by loan type:

• Undergraduate, graduate, career, and MBA loans: 5, 8, 10, or 15 years
• Dental, health profession, law school, and medical loans: 5, 8, 10, 15, or 20 years
• Parent loans: 5 or 15 years

Notable benefits

College Ave comes with several notable benefits, including:

• No application or origination fees: Borrowers won't have to pay any application or origination fees when applying for College Ave student loans.
• Autopay discount: When you sign up for automatic payments from your bank account, you can qualify for an interest rate reduction of 0.25 percentage points.
• Forbearance: If you're having trouble making monthly payments, College Ave has options, including a hardship forbearance in 3- to 6-month increments. However, it isn't standardized and may vary based on your unique circumstances.
• Multi-year approval: You may need private student loans for your whole degree. You can get multi-year approval with College Ave Multi-Year Peace of Mind. According to lender data, 90% of undergraduate students with an eligible cosigner can get approved for more loans.
• Multiple repayment options: You can choose from 4 different College Ave repayment options. You can defer monthly payments while you're in school, which can be helpful but increases total costs over the life of the loan. If you choose to make payments while enrolled in school, you can pay a flat amount of $25, make interest-only payments, or make full monthly payments, which include both principal and interest.
• Low starting rates: As a private student loan lender, College Ave offers low starting rates on undergraduate student loans for its most creditworthy borrowers. These rates are lower than some competitors. However, their rate cap is slightly higher as well.
• Positive customer reviews and ratings: On Trustpilot, College Ave has more than 2,000 reviews, resulting in a 4.5 rating. Additionally, College Ave has an A+ rating through the Better Business Bureau (BBB).

What to consider before borrowing from College Ave

Before taking out private student loans with College Ave or any other lender, maximize your other aid options first. Scholarships, grants, and federal student loans can help you pay for college and have significant benefits, such as loan forgiveness and income-driven repayment plans.

You also want to be aware of how the grace period varies for different borrowers. Notably, parent loan borrowers don't have a grace period and must make monthly interest payments while their child is attending school.

Lastly, College Ave cosigner release is only available after the borrower has made payments for half of the repayment term. So, on a 10-year repayment term, cosigner release would be available after five years. On top of that, the primary borrower's annual income must be double their outstanding balance — so if you have a remaining balance of $40,000, your annual income must be $80,000 or higher.

How to apply for a College Ave student loan

If you need private student loans to finance your education, follow these steps to apply for a College Ave student loan:

1. Secure a cosigner: If you're an undergraduate student, you'll likely need a cosigner. A parent or other relative with solid credit may help you qualify for College Ave student loans. Understand that cosigners share the legal responsibility for repayment of the loan.
2. Prequalify: You and your cosigner can fill out some preliminary information to see if you qualify for a loan.
3. Provide personal and financial information: If you prequalify, provide personal and financial information and any documentation for the College Ave student loan application.
4. Submit an application: Submit your completed application. Upon approval, College Ave will send your loan information to your school to certify your enrollment and confirm the cost of attendance.
5. Receive loan funds: After everything is confirmed and approved, the funds will be sent to your school.

College Ave states that the application should take about three minutes, and the whole process may take 10 business days or more.

Why you can trust our Credible experts

The Credible editorial team is independent and unbiased. Partners do not influence our editorial content. To help you find the best student loan for your situation, we conduct thorough research and analyze thousands of lender data points. Using data-driven methodologies, we score criteria that are important to you. This allows us to objectively rank student loan lenders and products. To learn more, read our methodology below.

Methodology

To determine College Ave's lender rating, Credible collected more than 1,000 points of data on two dozen private student loan companies and evaluated them on several different categories: repayment options, eligibility, interest rates, loan terms, and customer support. We assigned a score out of five stars to each lender based on our findings. Below are the weightings assigned to the general categories for the best student loan companies — which comprise individual criteria that are also weighted.

• Repayment options: 30%
• Eligibility: 25%
• Interest rates: 20%
• Loan terms: 15%
• Customer support: 10%

While the best lender for you will depend on your unique needs and financial circumstances, these findings should help answer your questions and assist you in your search for the best student loan.

Learn more about our methodology.