I was discussing student loans with a friend the other day when they mentioned a guaranteed student loan. We didn’t have time to get into it at the time, but I was intrigued - who was guaranteeing what?

An hour or 2 of research later, and it appears that Guaranteed student loan is really just another term for a subsidized Stafford loan - the kind we talk about in this article about Federal Student Loan Payback. The short explanation is this: Subsidized Stafford loans are backed with money from approved private institutions, and as long as you are in school, the Government pays that institution interest on your loan amount as well as the fees associated with managing a loan. Sounds like a good deal to me.