The rules changed. We help graduate students find private financing options that actually fit their situation — honestly, clearly, and without pressure.
Three simple steps — no account required, no credit impact.
A few questions about your program, finances, and borrowing profile. Takes about 2 minutes.
We show you verified lenders likely to work for your profile, with honest profile fit and clear explanations.
No pressure. No applications started here. Just clear information so you can make a confident decision.
Based on your profile, here are the options most likely to work for your situation.
Member-owned credit unions and Community Development Financial Institutions often offer competitive student loan rates with more flexible underwriting than traditional lenders. Search for credit unions you're eligible to join through your employer, school, or community.
Many schools offer interest-free payment plans, emergency aid funds, and tuition deferral programs. Talk to your financial aid office — these options often go unclaimed because students don't know to ask. Mentioning the Grad PLUS elimination specifically may open doors.
If you're working, your employer may offer education benefits. Up to $5,250/year is tax-free under federal law. Some employers offer more. Check your employee handbook or ask HR directly — this benefit is frequently underutilized.
Graduate scholarships are less competitive than undergraduate awards and often go unclaimed. Your professional association, program, and state higher education agency are all worth checking. Fastweb, ProFellow, and your school's financial aid portal are good starting points.
Persist is a free decision support tool for graduate students navigating private lending. Please take a moment to understand what we are — and what we aren't.
Persist is a free, independent decision support platform designed to help graduate students understand their private lending options following changes to federal student loan programs under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), effective July 1, 2026. Persist is operated by the Persist team, a private venture currently in formation.
Nothing on this platform constitutes financial, legal, or investment advice. The information provided by Persist is for general informational and educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional financial advice tailored to your individual circumstances. Before making any borrowing decision, you should consult a qualified financial advisor, your institution's financial aid office, or another appropriate professional.
Profile fit ratings shown on Persist — including "Strong match," "Good match," "Possible match," and "Long shot" — are directional estimates based on self-reported profile information and publicly available lender eligibility criteria. These ratings are not guarantees of loan approval or denial. Actual eligibility decisions are made solely by lenders based on their own underwriting criteria, which may differ from what is reflected here. Individual results will vary.
Persist makes reasonable efforts to maintain accurate and current information about listed lenders, including APR ranges, loan limits, eligibility criteria, and program features. However, lender terms, rates, and programs change frequently. All lender information should be verified directly with the lender before making any borrowing decision. Persist is not responsible for inaccuracies in lender-provided information or for changes that occur after our last update.
The Persist Ethical Lender Verification Standard is a proprietary framework developed by Persist to evaluate private student lenders on criteria including fee transparency, borrower protections, forbearance policies, and ethical marketing practices. Verification indicates that a lender has met Persist's publicly-stated criteria based on available information at the time of review — it is not an endorsement, a guarantee of favorable terms, or a recommendation that any specific lender is right for your situation. Lender placement and rankings are based solely on profile match — never on compensation.
Persist does not initiate, process, or submit loan applications on your behalf. Clicking "Visit Lender Site" on any lender card will direct you to that lender's own website, where their terms, privacy policy, and application process apply. Persist is not responsible for any content, terms, or outcomes on third-party lender websites.
Persist does not receive referral fees, origination bonuses, or any compensation tied to loan volume or student borrowing decisions. The founders of Persist are employed in higher education and have no financial relationship with any lender listed on this platform.
Persist collects the profile information you provide during the intake flow for the purpose of generating your results and improving the platform. We do not sell your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes. We do not share your information with lenders without your explicit consent. In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, user data may transfer to a successor entity committed to the same privacy standards described here. For full details on how we handle your data, please contact us at privacy@gradpersist.com.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Persist and its founders, employees, and affiliates shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use of this platform or any borrowing decision made in reliance on information provided here. Use of Persist is at your own discretion and risk.
Persist reserves the right to update this disclaimer at any time. Continued use of the platform following any update constitutes acceptance of the revised terms.
Questions about this disclaimer or Persist's practices? Contact us at hello@gradpersist.com.
Every lender on Persist has been evaluated against eight criteria designed to protect student borrowers. Here's exactly what we look for — and why each criterion matters.
Students deserve to know what they're actually paying. Vague "as low as" rate marketing is a red flag — it tells you nothing about what you'll actually pay.
Fees that punish students for paying early, or that stack on top of each other during hardship, are incompatible with ethical lending. A student who gets into financial difficulty shouldn't be penalized for it.
There is no ethical justification for charging a graduate student 20%+ APR on an education loan. We set firm caps on what verified lenders can charge.
We can't audit a lender's internal underwriting decisions — and we won't pretend we can. What we can verify is whether lenders give borrowers the information they need to make sound decisions for themselves. That's what we evaluate.
Life happens. A student who loses a job, faces a medical emergency, or encounters unexpected hardship shouldn't be pushed into default because their private lender offered no flexibility.
A cosigner who helps a student access education shouldn't be trapped indefinitely or exposed to automatic default triggers that punish them for the borrower's death or disability.
Compliance is a floor, not a ceiling. But lenders who can't clear it have no place on Persist.
This is the one that makes everything else possible. The moment a platform accepts money to steer students toward certain lenders, it stops being a navigator and becomes a marketing channel. We will never do this.