Hi, I'm trying to get a private loan to fund a chunk of my LLM and Prodigy Finance, which everyone seems to use, currently doesn't operate in some markets. Does anyone have any other suggestions that don't require a co-signer?

MPower Financing is the other option without a co-signer. I've had a good experience with them compared to Prodigy in getting conditional loan approval. They can offer $50K in total and $25K per semester. 
I guess the downside with Mpower is that you have to make small interest payments throughout the LLM study period. However, this could be a good thing because you will be building a US credit history, which could help you refinance your student loan once you get a job at a much lower interest rate. 
There's no human evaluation of your loan at Prodigy - the system rejected my loan application in a matter of seconds. I would say MPower looks at your complete profile compared to Prodigy - they ask for your CV and degree certificates, which Prodigy does not. 
Best of Luck!

Hi, I'm trying to get a private loan to fund a chunk of my LLM and Prodigy Finance, which everyone seems to use, currently doesn't operate in some markets. Does anyone have any other suggestions that don't require a co-signer?

hey @safgold, thanks for the response! I agree, Prodigy automatically rejected my application, no actual reasoning. My worry is whether MPower has too high of an interest rate. 

I'm not an expert, and this does not constitute financial advice. But here are some things I found out...


There is a calculator on the MPower website where you can calculate your Estimated Payment while in School = Interest payment. The interest amount you will pay while in school is dependent on the amount you are borrowing. You are also given a total discount of 1.5% on your loan, so 0.5% if you meet the three different requirements i.e you allow for auto-pay, meet 6 payments consecutively without default, become employed. The calculator and more info can be found here: https://www.mpowerfinancing.com/get-a-loan/


My understanding is that if want to apply for 50K this would be 2 loan applications because the application limit is capped at 25K. You will 1st make a loan application for 25K for the 1st semester. You will then make another loan application for 2nd semester - within 90 days before it starts, submitting your 1st term academic transcripts.  So you would pay say $250 interest per month for the 1st semester, then because of the additional 2nd term loan of 25k pay $500 per month for the second semester. This $500 would be reduced by the 1% discount if you made 6 consecutive payments by auto-pay, and selected auto-pay. If you are lucky to have secured employment by then that's a further 0.5% discount. 


Mpower does ask you to specify the period you want your application to be allocated to - that is Fall term, Spring term, or Both. I have applied for an amount lower than 25K and applied it to both terms, but I believe I still have the option to apply for further loans for the second semester should I require it. 


Remember as international students we are the riskiest borrowers, and we pay the highest rates irrespective if we go the no co-signer route. This is because we have no US credit record. The loans are originated in the US market and so our local credit records don't matter. Our risk profiles do not change, irrespective of the school and the degree program we choose. We all pay the same high rates. The difference, MPower has fixed rates, whereas Prodigy has variable rates. A loan with Prodigy will likely be more expensive in the long-term if US interest rates increase (right now they are really low).
MPower and Prodigy are both Fintech startup companies and make use of algorithms to evaluate their loans. As startups, their business model is risky and they need to charge these rates in order to be able to raise funding for loans in the capital markets. 


A factor that will probably lower your chances of approval is any debt that you may have... and disclose. So the aim would be to show a low debt amount and then an excess of total funds that you will have access to, beyond just the cost of attendance (CoA). This is so, that you can meet your current debt obligations as well as that of the new student loan. You could do this by paying off and settling some of the debt you have like credit cards before the LLM (and because you will do this can likely omit this from your application), or make use of sponsors who will help fund you for costs beyond the CoA - to get to a higher total funds value. So for example, if the program CoA is $80K, you should ideally show something like $100K of funds.

***Guys I hope this was helpful, but PLEASE do consult with the staff at MPower to clarify this or go through the website information. Do not rely solely on this information... I am just someone who has tried to learn and understand more about this process, after the heart-crushing and confusing experience of being rejected by Prodigy immediately after applying.