Students who seek education loans are ill equipped to finance their education. They are at very early stages of their career and don't have a regular job or a source of income. In order to finance the cost of their course, banks require someone to become a co-applicant and act as a guarantor for the educational loan. This article takes a look at all such requirements of an education loan.

How much financial assistance does an education loan provide?

Education loan can provide financial assistance of Rupees 7.5 lakhs for education in India. You can get up to 15 lakhs for studies abroad. This is definitely a huge amount. To secure their investments banks want something solid to bank upon. So, they ask for a collateral and co-applicant as guarantor.

If the educational loan requirements are less than 4 lakhs, banks in India waive the requirement of collateral. For loans above 4 lakhs the banks accept fixed deposits, LIC policies and real estate properties etc. as the collateral.

Every education loan offered by banks in India require a co-applicant. Listed below are the qualifications and documentation requirements of co-applicants for education loans. These facts though, fairly exhaustive can vary according to banks. They might increase or decrease the qualification criteria, or any documentation requirements.

Co-applicant requirements for salaried individuals:

The salaried individuals are interpreted by banks as those persons who are employees of selected public and private limited companies , employees of state governments, central governments, public sector undertakings, salaried doctors, salaried CA's etc.

Eligibility Criteria:

The age of the co-applicant must be greater than 21 years and his maximum age at the time of loan maturity should be less than 60 years. He should have a good employment record with minimum 2 years in employment and at least 1 year in current organization. He should also satisfy the minimum monthly income criteria of the bank ( the minimum monthly income can be anywhere between Rs. 5000 - Rs.7000 depending on location).

Documents required:

The co-applicant will be asked to provide documents verifying his identity, residence proof, bank statements, and letters supporting the income claims (generally the salary slip with latest Form 16).