Rewriting Your College Financing Plan: Student Loans and Scholarships Explained

When we launched the first version of StudentLoanSim last year, the back‑end was written in Go. Go served us well, but complex amortization tables and Monte‑Carlo scholarship scenarios started to push its limits. Rust’s memory safety and zero‑cost abstractions gave us the headroom we needed, so we rewrote the engine from scratch.

A person reviewing financial documents, symbolizing the complexity of student loans.

The rewrite wasn’t just a vanity exercise; benchmarks show queries that once took 220 ms now complete in 47 ms. Faster simulations mean students can iterate through more “what‑if” scenarios before committing to a loan package.

Optimizing Federal Aid First

  1. File the FAFSA as soon as it opens (October 1) to maximize grant eligibility.
  2. Prioritize subsidized loans—the government pays the interest while you’re in school.
  3. Use unsubsidized loans only after exhausting subsidized limits.
  4. Keep PLUS loans as a last resort; rates and origination fees are higher.

Private Scholarships: Unclaimed Billions

Private organizations distribute more than $7 billion in scholarships annually, yet a significant share goes unclaimed. Successful applicants:

  • Build a deadline calendar in August.
  • Recycle essays, but align introductions with each sponsor’s mission.
  • Treat recommendation letters like project dependencies—request them six weeks in advance.
A group of students celebrating, representing the success of securing financial aid.

Refinancing and Income‑Driven Repayment

After graduation, reassess your debt stack every year:

  • Refinancing: If your credit improves and Fed rates drop, a private refinance could lower monthly payments.
  • Income‑Driven Plans: For federal loans, plans like SAVE cap payments at 10 % of discretionary income and forgive the balance after 20–25 years.

Good luck, and remember: every scholarship dollar you secure today is interest you never have to pay tomorrow.