Can you have a Stafford Loan coming from more than one place for college?

Answer 1

You can use a different lender from year to year. For example, you can obtain your Freshman year Stafford Loan from Citizens Bank and your Sophomore year Stafford Loan from Citibank. You will find that this is a little bit of a pain since it will entail completing a new Master Promissory Note for each lender (and might confuse your school a little bit if they are expecting you to borrow from once place and you go elsewhere).

Having multiple lenders can benefit you, though, if you plan on consolidating later. See, students who borrow every single student loan from the same lender are bound by something known as the "single holder rule." Simply put, this rule states that a students with loans help by a single lender *must* consolidate with that lender. So, if all your loans are with Citibank, you must consolidate with Citibank, even if Sallie Mae is offering better borrower benefits.

Now, you probably shouldn't attempt to borrow from two Stafford lenders during the same enrollment period at the same school (for example, if you were awarded $3,500 as a Sophomore, you shouldn't attempt to borrow $1,750 from Citibank and $1,750 from Sallie Mae). While this isn't expressly forbidden, it's... well, weird and could cause a big mess (you could be responsible for an overpayment, your loan disbursements could be delayed, etc.).

Keep in mind that interest rates on Stafford Loans are set by the federal government, so your underlying interest rates on any Staffords will be the same. The only reason you'd want to "shop around" would be to obtain one of the many "borrower benefits" out there for student loan borrowers (interest rate reductions, principal reductions, etc.). However, it's unlikely that one bank will offer a benefit that's enormously better than another bank's benefit (the borrower benefits will be different, yes, but in the end, they tend to add up to similar savings).

For more information about borrower benefits and about the "single holder rule," which is still in effect, check out these pages:

http://www.finaid.org/loans/singleholderrule.phtml
http://www.finaid.org/loans/choosing.phtml
http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loananalyzer.phtml

Answer 2

what do you mean? more than one bank? What is the point of that? Your rate will be the same no matter where you go.