It’s no secret that medical school can be incredibly expensive. Scholarships, grants and savings can help but they may not always be enough. Your next best bet is generally federal student loans since they come with low interest rates and unique perks like loan forgiveness programs. If you still have funding gaps to fill, private student loans can help.

Below, CNBC Select rounds up the best private medical school student loans to help you find the best lender for your needs. We focused on loan amounts offered, fees, repayment terms and any other special offerings. (See our methodology for more information on how we made this list.)

Who’s this for? College Ave is ideal if you prefer a longer repayment period, which typically translates to lower monthly payments, albeit more interest charges in the long run. It offers repayment terms from five to 20 years.

Standout benefits: Borrowers don’t have to make repayments while they’re still in school. If you decide to start making payments while still a student, you can choose from three payment options: the full principal and interest, interest only or a flat $25 monthly payment to reduce your accrued interest.

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Who’s this for? PNC Bank offers student loan funding for medical school students who need help funding their residency program. Specifically, the funding can cover the cost of residency interviews and relocation for the program.

Standout benefits: PNC Bank doesn’t require a co-signer but it does offer the ability to apply with one. It also offers a generous 0.50% discount for signing up for autopay.

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Who’s this for? Prodigy Finance caters specifically to students studying abroad. It offers student loans at over 1,700 global schools in 18 countries, including schools for medical education. One of the requirements for qualifying for a Prodigy Finance loan is that the student must be looking to study abroad.

Standout benefits: This lender offers a 6-month grace period for full-time students and a 3-month grace period for part-time students.

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Who’s this for? Citizens offers multi-year financing, which means borrowers won’t have to reapply for financing from the same lender every year — as you’d typically do with the federal student loan application process. This cuts down on the stress of figuring out financing every single year of med school.

Standout benefits: Borrowers can receive a 0.25% rate reduction for enrolling in autopay. If you already have an account with Citizens Bank, you can qualify for an additional 0.25% off.

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Who’s this for? Ascent offers a grace period of up to 36 months for medical school loans if borrowers choose the deferred repayment plan. Loan repayment will begin when the grace period ends after the borrower is no longer enrolled in school at least half-time. This can be useful because it provides the opportunity to secure a steady source of income before starting payments.

Standout benefits: Ascent offers borrowers a 1% cash back reward for borrowers who graduate and meet additional qualification criteria. You can also get a 0.25% rate discount when signing up for autopay.

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Who’s this for? Sallie Mae is ideal if your credit needs work and you’re applying with a co-signer to help you qualify for better rates. It allows co-signers to be released after a relatively short 12 months of on-time payments. Sallie Mae also stands out for offering medical school loans to part-time students.

Standout benefits: Sallie Mae offers a 36-month grace period and 48 months of deferment during your residency and fellowship. It also offers a 0.25% rate discount when signing up for autopay.

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College Ave is a fintech lender that offers student loans through Firstrust Bank, First Citizens Community Bank or M.Y. Safra Bank. It offers competitive interest rates, plus no application, origination or prepayment fees. On top of that, borrowers can also receive a 0.25% rate discount by connecting their bank accounts and setting up autopay. It also offers hardship protections like deferment, forbearance and grace period options. Borrowers with College Ave student loans can start repaying while still in school.

Loan amounts

$1,000 to $150,000

Loan terms

5 to 20 years

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PNC Bank is a large brick-and-mortar bank with approximately 2,300 branch locations. This lender doesn’t charge an application fee, origination fee, or prepayment penalty but there is a late fee of 5.00% or $5, whichever is lower.

Loan amounts

Up to $225,000

Loan terms

5 to 15 years

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Prodigy Finance offers loans to study in over a dozen countries around the world. It bases its lending on data on a borrower’s future earning potential and accepts borrowers with no credit history.

This provider does charge a few fees on its student loan. There is a processing fee of up to $100 and an admin fee of 5% of the loan amount. It also charges an annual loan servicing fee.

Loan amounts

Minimum loan amount of $10,001; borrow up to the cost of attendance

Loan terms

7 to 20 years

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Citizens is a brick-and-mortar bank that offers a range of student loans. It doesn’t charge any origination fees, application fees, disbursement fees or even prepayment penalties. This lender also offers some hardship protections for borrowers like forbearance. Students can also elect to begin making payments while they’re still in school so they can pay down as much of their balance as possible before graduating.

Loan amounts

$180,000 or $350,000, depending on the degree; see here for more details

Loan terms

5 to 15 years

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Ascent offers a range of private student loans, as well as bootcamp loans for career prep programs. It doesn’t charge application, origination or disbursement fees. This lender also offers both fixed-rate and adjustable-rate loan options.

Loan amounts

Up to $400,000

Loan terms

5 to 15 years

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Sallie Mae offers student loans and scholarships, as well as banking products like savings accounts, a money market account and CDs. In addition to its standard medical school loan, it offers a medical residency loan, health professions graduate loan, dental school loan and dental residency loan.

Loan amounts

$1,000 minimum; borrow up to the cost of attendance

Medical residency and relocation loan: Borrow up to $30,000

Loan terms

20 years

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At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every student loan review is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of student loan products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics. See our methodology for more information on how we choose the best medical school loans.

To determine the best medical school student loans, CNBC Select analyzed and compared private student loan funding from national banks, credit unions and online lenders. We narrowed down our ranking by only considering those that offer competitive student loan rates.

While the companies we chose in this article consistently rank as having some of the market’s lower interest rates, we also compared each company on the following features:

• Broad availability: All of the companies on our list offer undergraduate and graduate private student loans, and they all offer variable and fixed interest rates to choose from
• Flexible loan terms: Each company provides a variety of financing options that borrowers can customize based on their monthly budget and how long they need to pay back their student loan. Each company also allows borrowers to start repaying their student loans while still in school, ultimately saving them money
• No early payoff penalties: The companies on our list do not charge borrowers prepayment penalties for paying off loans early
• Streamlined application process: We made sure companies offered a fast online application process
• Autopay discounts: All of the companies listed offer an autopay interest rate discount
• Private student loan protections: Each company on our list offers some type of financial hardship protection for borrowers
• Loan sizes: The above companies offer private student loans in an array of sizes, all the way up to the cost of college attendance. Each company advertises its respective loan sizes, and completing a preapproval process can give borrowers an idea of what their interest rate and monthly payment would be
• Credit requirements/eligibility: We took into consideration the minimum credit scores and income levels required if this information was available
• Customer support: Every company on our list provides customer service available via telephone, email or secure online messaging. We also opted for lenders with an online resource hub or advice center to help borrowers educate themselves about student loans in general

We also considered CNBC Select audience data when available, such as general demographics and engagement with our content and tools.  

Note that the rates and fee structures for private student loans are not guaranteed forever; they are subject to change without notice and they often fluctuate in accordance with the Fed rate. Choosing a fixed-rate APR will guarantee that one’s interest rate and monthly payment will remain consistent throughout the entire term of the loan.

A borrower’s interest rate depends on their credit score, income, debt-to-income (DTI) ratio, savings, payment history and overall financial health. To take out private student loans, lenders will conduct a hard credit inquiry and request a full application, which could require proof of income, identity verification, proof of address and more.

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