RISLA was a winner of Forbes Advisor’s best private student loans of 2020 awards. Everyone who qualifies for each of the loan types gets the same rate, which makes it easy to compare RISLA loans with others you’ve qualified for.įor borrowers who struggle to afford their loan after graduating, RISLA is one of the only private lenders to offer an income-based repayment plan, which limits payments to 15% of income for a 25-year period. One loan requires immediate repayment, and one lets you defer payments until six months after you leave school. It offers two different loan types for undergraduate students, which each come with their own fixed interest rates. Rhode Island Student Loan Authority, known as RISLA, is a nonprofit based in Rhode Island that lends to students across the country.