Advertiser Disclosure
We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free – so that you can make financial decisions with confidence. The offers that appear on this site are from companies from which TheSimpleDollar.com receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. The Simple Dollar does not include all card/financial services companies or all card/financial services offers available in the marketplace. The Simple Dollar has partnerships with issuers including, but not limited to, Capital One, Chase & Discover. View our full advertiser disclosure to learn more.
SoFi Student Loans Review
SoFi’s willingness to originate 100% cost of attendance, as well as no fees, make it a strong contender for your student loan. Just be sure to have your documentation in order to make for a smooth application process.
- No fees
- Plenty of member perks
- Autopay discounts
- Strict eligibility requirements
We follow a rigorous editorial policy designed to keep our writers and editors independent. Articles may reference products from our partners, so here’s more information on
How we make money
SoFi student loans at a glance
Fixed APR | Variable APR | Loan Amount | Standout Feature | |
SoFi | 4.23%–11.26% | 1.87%–11.66% | Up to 100% of cost of attendance | Career coaching and financial advice available |
*Rates accurate as of April 2021
What we like about it
SoFi is one of the best in the business when it comes to offering more than just ways to pay for college. It offers free career coaching services for any borrower, which includes a variety of services including how to ask for a promotion, how to network, how to update a resume, negotiation tactics and personal branding. It is also a great resource if borrowers are looking to consolidate or refinance student loans.
Furthermore, SoFi offers a rate discount of 0.25% when borrowers sign up for automatic payments, reducing the amount of interest that adds on to your principal amount over time.
Things to consider
SoFi has some strict eligibility requirements. While for private undergraduate students loans, borrowers are allowed to bring on a creditworthy cosigner to help guarantee the loan, student loan refinancing applicants are required to have an associate’s or bachelor’s degree, sufficient income and a worthy credit score.
What you need to know
Overall, SoFi has done its best to make its loan application as streamlined as possible. Everything can be accomplished on its online portal, though 24/7 customer support is available.
There are several lenders who will originate or refinance substantial loan amounts. SoFi should be commended for lending up to 100% of the certified costs of attendance.
An associate’s degree is the minimum level of attainment required to be considered for a loan. SoFi doesn’t appear to distinguish the type of degree earned but will factor in income, credit score and debt-to-income ratio, in keeping with standard practices. The specific terms will depend on your profile.
Here’s how to apply for a SoFi student loan:
- Navigate to SoFi.com and pull up the private student loan product page. From there, you’ll be able to get started on your application where you will input general personal information and create a profile.
- SoFi will perform a soft credit check based on the information provided and be able to pre-approve your application with an offer of student loan rates.
- If approved, you can continue the application with the required documents. These include any employment validation documents, driver’s license, W-2s and your cosigner’s information, if applicable.
- Then, SoFi will perform a hard credit check to offer your final rates and loan amount for your private student loan. Review the lending documents and sign on the dotted line to finance your higher education.
SoFi vs. Citizens Bank
Citizens Bank’s lending arm, Citizens One, offers private student loan financing with rates comparable to SoFi. However, Citizens One offer multi-year approval, meaning there’s only one hard credit check to be approved for four years of financing. Every time you need to reapply for a student loan for subsequent years of education, Citizens One only performs a soft credit check.
While SoFi student loans feature no fees and tons of member perks, Citizens One does charge a late fee to its student borrowers.
SoFi vs College Ave
College Ave is another popular lender that features a quick approval process. However, its interest rate on student loans is higher than SoFi and its loan amounts featured a cap of $150,000 for undergraduate and $300,000 for medical degrees. College Ave also required satisfactory academic progress to originate loans for subsequent years.
A cap of $150,000 to $300,000 sounds like a lot, but for certain degrees, it can be the start. If you prefer to have one lender to cover 100% cost of attendance, SoFi may be your best bet.
Too long, didn’t read?
SoFi provides lots of benefits to its members in addition to no fees and quick origination. Their online portal and willingness to originate 100% cost of attendance are standouts. Just be sure your documentation is in order and you plan to obtain at least an associate’s degree. SoFi’s career coaching and ancillary benefits are worth strong consideration.
Methodology
The SimpleScore is a proprietary scoring metric we use to objectively compare products and services at The Simple Dollar.
For every review, our editorial team:
- Identifies five measurable aspects to compare across each brand
- Determines the rating criteria for each aspect score
- Averages the five aspect scores to produce a single SimpleScore™
Here’s a breakdown of the five aspect scores and their rating criteria for our review of the best student loans of 2020.
Max Fixed Rate
Lenders who offered a lower maximum fixed rate were awarded higher scores.
Perks
We awarded higher scores for lenders that list more perks including services, discounts and special offers for their borrowers.
Transparency
Lenders that laid it all bare by publishing important data about products — APR, offered loan amounts, applicable fees and customer support contact links — scored higher for transparency.
Loan Amount
Lenders that offered higher loan amounts compared to others received higher scores.
Fees
We awarded higher scores to lenders that have fewer loan fees for borrowers.