College Ave vs. Sallie Mae: Which Lender Is Better?

If you're looking to pay for school with a private student loan, College Ave and Sallie Mae are two popular lenders to consider. 

Both offer a wide range of private student loans and allow you to borrow up to your school-certified cost of attendance. 

However, these lenders also differ in key ways, including repayment options, cosigner release policies, and hardship protections. This guide breaks down how College Ave and Sallie Mae compare so you can decide which lender is the better fit for your finances. 

Current private student loan rates

College Ave and Sallie Mae at a glance

College Ave and Sallie Mae are two well-known lenders that offer student loans for undergraduate, graduate, and other qualifying students. 

However, while both provide competitive interest rates, there are important differences between them. For example:

• Sallie Mae makes cosigner release easier than College Ave, offers a Graduated Repayment Period that can ease you into repayment after your grace period, and offers more options for borrowers taking online classes, getting professional training, or earning certificates. 
• College Ave offers more repayment terms, offers refinancing and parent loans, which Sallie Mae doesn't, and provides a quick way to check your rate online without a hard credit inquiry. Unfortunately, cosigner release is more difficult.

Here's a closer look at College Ave vs. Sallie Mae student loans so you can decide between these two lenders. 

College Ave

Founded in 2014, College Ave is an online lender that offers private student loans and student loan refinancing. It has various loan options, including loans for undergraduates, graduate students, career students, and parents. 

With College Ave, you can prequalify to borrow online. This allows you to check your student loan rates quickly, without impacting your credit score.  

The lender's “Multi-Year Peace of Mind” program also maximizes the chances you'll be able to borrow in future years. While a new application is required under the program each year, 90% of undergraduate students are approved for additional funding when applying with a cosigner.

Unfortunately, while College Ave does allow cosigner release, half of your repayment term must elapse first, and the lender imposes a number of other strict requirements, including proof that your income is equal to or higher than twice the outstanding loan balance. This means you'll usually have to wait longer for student loan cosigner release with College Ave than with Sallie Mae and many other lenders. 

The good news is, College Ave offers help to struggling borrowers. If you experience financial hardship, you can request forbearance in three-to-six-month increments.

College Ave also offers refinancing for student loan balances starting at $5,000 with repayment terms from five to 20 years.

Sallie Mae

Originally founded in 1972 as a government-sponsored enterprise, Sallie Mae is now a private company that provides private student loans. 

Sallie Mae offers a number of customized loan options, including loans for undergraduates, graduate students, nursing school students, and flight school students. It also offers bar exam, medical residency, and dental residency loans. However, unlike College Ave, Sallie Mae does not offer student loan refinancing or parent loans. 

Unfortunately, Sallie Mae doesn't let you prequalify for a student loan online, so you can't easily check student loan lender rates with Sallie Mae. You'll need to submit a full application to see your offers. This means you’ll undergo a hard inquiry, which shows up on your credit record. 

Sallie Mae does make cosigner release easier than College Ave, though. You can pursue it after just 12 months of payments, though you'll need to meet other criteria to qualify, such as a minimum credit score and sufficient income. 

Like College Ave, Sallie Mae also offers forbearance if you run into financial hardship and offers deferment if you go back to school or for other qualifying reasons. You can also apply for a Graduated Repayment Period, which lets you make interest-only payments for 12 months after your grace period ends. 

College Ave and Sallie Mae compared

Borrower eligibility and requirements

Neither Sallie Mae nor College Ave discloses their minimum credit score or income requirements, but neither offers student loans for borrowers with bad credit. With both lenders, most undergraduate borrowers likely need a cosigner to qualify. College Ave does share that any cosigners must have a credit score in the mid-600s or higher. 

College Ave requires you to be enrolled in an eligible school, while Sallie Mae extends loans to students enrolled in college, graduate school, certificate programs, professional training, or online courses. 

College Ave student loans have a minimum age requirement of 16. Sallie Mae, on the other hand, requires you to have reached the age of majority in your state, which is typically 18.

Both Sallie Mae and College Ave allow international students to apply as long as they have a cosigner who's a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. 

Repayment options

College Ave student loans and Sallie Mae student loans offer different repayment options for borrowers. 

College Ave offers terms of five, eight, 10, or 15 years for most of its loans, while some graduate loans offer 20-year terms. When you're in school, you can choose from four repayment options:

• Immediate repayment
• Interest-only payments
• Flat payments of $25 per month
• Deferred repayment 

Most Sallie Mae student loans only have two repayment terms: 10 or 15 years. However, some graduate school loans, including medical and dental loans, offer the option of a 20-year term. When you're in school, you can choose interest-only payments, flat $25 payments, or deferred payments. 

Both College Ave and Sallie Mae have options for forbearance and deferment if you run into financial difficulties or go back to school. Sallie Mae also offers a Graduated Repayment Period, which lets you pay only the interest for a year after your grace period ends. 

Fees and discounts

College Ave and Sallie Mae have a lot in common when it comes to fees and discounts. 

Neither lender charges application or origination fees, though they both charge fees for late payments. With both lenders, late fees equal 5% of your loan amount up to a maximum of $25. 

Both lenders also offer a 0.25 percentage-point reduction on your interest rate if you use autopay. 

Borrower experience

Both College Ave and Sallie Mae receive an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB), but College Ave beats Sallie Mae when it comes to customer reviews. 

College Ave has a 3.5-star rating on the BBB website and 4.5 stars on Trustpilot. This is significantly higher than Sallie Mae's ratings of 1.08 stars on the BBB site and 1.3 on Trustpilot. 

Customers generally had positive things to say about College Ave's customer support, but expressed frustration over their experience with Sallie Mae. 

College Ave's support team is available by web chat, text, and email, or you can call them anytime from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET Monday to Friday. Sallie Mae only provides customer support over the phone and is available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET Monday to Thursday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET on Fridays. 

Both College Ave and Sallie Mae offer scholarships and provide online resources to help you understand college and student loans. College Ave has a variety of student loan calculators, while Sallie Mae has a scholarship search tool to help you find award money for school. 

College Ave vs. Sallie Mae: Which is better for you?

If you need a private student loan, both College Ave and Sallie Mae are good options. The better choice comes down to your individual needs and goals. 

Choose College Ave if you want…

• More repayment term options: College Ave offers multiple options, including 5-, 8-, 10-, or 15-year terms, while most Sallie Mae loans offer only 10- or 15-year terms. 
• Multi-year preapproval: Qualifying borrowers can get pre-approved to borrow again in future years, which can streamline the application process. 
• Parent loans: College Ave provides loans for parents, while Sallie Mae does not. 
• Student loan refinancing: College Ave also lets you refinance existing student loans, which isn’t something that Sallie Mae offers. 
• Better customer support: College Ave has a better reputation for customer service and offers more ways to contact customer support, including web chat, text, and email. 

Choose Sallie Mae if you prefer…

• More customized loan options: Sallie Mae has a wide variety of student loans, including career training loans, nursing school loans, bar exam loans, medical residency loans, and more. 
• More hardship protections: Sallie Mae's Graduated Repayment Period could be useful if you need to reduce student loan payments for a year after your grace period ends. 
• Faster path to cosigner release: With Sallie Mae, you can apply for cosigner release after just 12 months. This is a shorter time than College Ave and many other lenders require. 

There are pros and cons to both College Ave and Sallie Mae student loans, so review the details to determine which might be the right fit for you. Generally, it's a good idea to prequalify with multiple lenders and do a private student loan comparison to find the best interest rate.