It's almost Independence Day. Thoughts about the fall are probably in the backs of a lot of students' and parents' minds right now, but only in the back. Actually, now is a good time to start exploring financial aid options. The following is a list of what's out there, in addition to grants, scholarships, and work study programs. The first step, of course, once you've decided where you want to go to school is to fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form. It doesn't matter how much your family earns, fill out the form anyway because you may be eligible for assistance if you should need it.

Listed below are the different types of loans available:

Stafford Loans

These loans are available at most colleges and universities and are the easiest to obtain. They are both subsidized and unsubsidized.

FFELP Loans

These loans aren't so easily acquired as Stafford Loans. They are often denied to students attending community colleges or lesser known colleges and universities. They are distributed by private organizations like Citibank, JP Morgan Chase and SunTrust, at their discretion.

Plus Loans

These loans are only made available to parents of dependent ungraduate or graduate students who have "stellar credit and stay on top of their mortgage payments," says Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.

Peer-to-Peer Lenders

These loans are risky. A student in need of assistance goes to a Web site like greennote.com of fynanz.com and fill out a form in which they include the school they're attending, their major, and the amount they'd like to borrow. Afterward, family and friends visit the site and decide whether or not to lend the student the money. If they agree to give the student a loan, the site generates a legally binding contract and then the two parties go from there. Note: These are not interest-free loans and the rates aren't fixed. Kantrowitz says federal loans would end up being cheaper in the long run.

Private Lenders

These loans are the toughest to obtain. According to Kantrowitz, a borowwer needs a credit score of at least 650 in order to qualify. Most students, he says, can't meet that demand because they "tend to have very limited credit, or if they have a credit score, it's low." He recommends that the student ask their parents to co-sign on the loan.

There are many loan options available, but if they can be avoided, so much the better.

Although modernmarvel doesn't knock it, she does have some things to say about UPromise that aren't too promising (no pun intended).

Her first caveat comes in the form of a condition that must be met by all members who hope to retrieve the money they've saved ... they must have "529 Plans" for their children. The 529 Plans - from section 529 of the IRS tax code authorizing them - are much like 401(k) plans. They are sponsored by states, state agencies, or educational institutions and come in two forms, prepaid and paid.

The prepaid 529 plans allow parents to lock in today's tuition prices at a particular college or university. "They purchase credits or units at participating colleges and universities for future tuition and sometimes room and board," according to the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The paid 529 plans don't allow tuition prices to be locked in. Parents simply invest in stocks and /or bonds with participating investment firms like Vanguard, Smith Barney, and T Rowe Price.

The need for a 529 Plan wasn't a hindrance for modernmarvel because she already had them for two of her children. Unfortunately for her, UPromise discontinued its relationship with Fidelity, so modernmarvel will have to switch to another investment firm or risk forfeiting the $500 she's already saved.

Modernmarvel's next warning is about the lack of speed on the UPromise site. Pages take much too long to load, she said. It also takes several days for information to be processed when establishing a new account, and it can take anywhere from several weeks to several months or even a year for savings to be deposited into an account. If such delays aren't perturbing, then going to UPromise to help save for future college tuition might be worth it.

There are many ways to save with UPromise like registering credit cards so rewards go to a member's account every time the registered card(s) is used. This is where friends and family can really be a help. By creating UPromise accounts and registering their credit cards, they help the member earn additional rebates. Modernmarvel's friends and family contributed $200 of the overall $500 she has saved.

Online shopping, especially at participating online companies like ebay or travelocity, purchasing a meal in certain restaurants, during certain times of the day, and using a registered credit card, can earn a saver a 10% rebate. Grocery shopping in a participating store and using the store's customer card, or purchasing certain products like Coke or Kellogg's cereals can help a UPromise member earn rebates, modest though they may be. For those who like giving MacDonald's gift certificates, 3% rebates can be earned on each purchase.

Sometimes local stores can be registered with UPromise and rebates can be earned through credit card purchases. Modernmarvel cautions against using the UPromise Citibank Card, which deposits 1% of a saver's total spending into his account, because she had a miserable experience with Citicard.

On the plus side of UPromise, modernmarvel said the site is user-friendly and they keep goog records; however, because of the 529 Plan requirement, she said she wouldn't recommend UPromise to anyone who didn't feel a 529 college savings plan was a good fit for her.

"Physical therapists (PTs) who choose to work with children, adolescents or veterans would be eligible to apply for student loan forgiveness under legislation approved Thursday, February 7, by the US House of Representatives. Rep Joe Sestak's (D-PA) amendment to the College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007 (HR 4137) authorizes the US Secretary of Education to forgive a portion of qualifying student loan debt to PTs practicing in areas of national need."

Now that the PT profession has successfully become included in the above mentioned bill, Occupational Therapists are now pushing for inclusion. The AOTA has quickly banded its members together and are taking action to get their profession incorporated into the final bill. Now they wait on the Senate's decision.

Article courtesy of RehabCare Student blog. RehabCare provides college recruiting for Physical Therapists, Physical Therapy Assistants, Occupational Therapists, Occupational Therapy Assistants and Speech Language Pathologists.

1. Don't take out student loans.

The inability to afford a quality education is often a hindrance to caring men and women who would make excellent nurses.

With the rising cost to attend college, and the recent cuts in government funding, many students currently in college or about to attend have a big decision to make. They must decide how they will fund their college tuition and books if they are not awarded enough scholarships or grants.

For some, student loans represent a necessary "evil".